Moroccan Researcher Honored for Groundbreaking Snakebite Antivenom Work

Dr. Naoual Ouakkach is currently working on a new type of antivenom against the molecules responsible for mortality. This is what the ISBAD organizers announced and explained that the researcher’s work aims to "improve the care provided for snake bites and scorpion stings in order to reduce the lethality and the number of disfigurements that occur each year".

This year, the celebration of the International Snakebite Awareness Day has taken on a special character due to the fact that since the coronavirus pandemic, it is a reality that is less talked about, even though snake envenomation is one of the greatest unrecognized health crises for many people around the world.

Each year, around 5.4 million people are bitten by a snake. About 400,000 of them end up permanently disabled or disfigured due to the ineffectiveness of therapies against snake bites. This is why the ISBAD organizers deplore that snake envenomation has been neglected by the World Health Organization since 2017.