Every year, snakebite envenoming causes between 81,000 and 138,000 deaths and around 400,000 permanent disabilities, according to the World Health Organization.^[1] Apparently, this harm occurs mainly because snakebites are difficult to diagnose and expensive to treat.^[2]

A cost-effectiveness analysis of antivenom for snakebite in 16 West African countries estimated a cost per death averted ranging from $1,997 in Guinea Bissau to $6,205 in Liberia and Sierra Leone, and a cost per disability-adjusted life-year (DALY) ranging from $83 for Benin to $281 for Sierra-Leone.^[3]