Every year, an estimated 2.7 million people are bitten by venomous snakes, resulting in death for more than 100,000 people and life-long disfigurement and disability for 400,000 more. MSF treats several thousand victims of snakebite every year and witnesses the devastating impact of snakebites on victims, their families and communities in many of the places we work.

This factsheet provides information on: how snakebite affects people and how it is treated; explains why so many people can’t access effective treatment; and describes what governments need to do to end the antivenom access crisis.

This factsheet is intended to be a concise, accessible summary which can be used with a range of audiences (including journalists, social media followers, policymakers, civil society groups and many more).

NB. To help support snakebite comms and advocacy work in the different places where MSF works, the Access Campaign has created an internal snakebite advocacy/comms toolkit - click here to find out more: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Hr-U75U9k9dTMlkWvQaHr6eIFJgycsf4-cmGO4WlJ0w/edit?usp=sharing