Snakebite Survival Fund
Each month, over 10,000 people die due to snake bites. Many among those are children. Each year, over 400,000 people end up unable to work, mutilated or handicapped due to a bite. Providing the right education is a significant part of snake bite prevention. They provide this in the form of children's books available in multiple languages, with which we familiarise children with the world of toxins and give them the tips they need.
Information about correct first aid is crucial too. We can offer this via handouts and informational meetings in communities where snake bites are prevalent. In doing this, they do not lose sight of snakes, which are crucial for a healthy ecosystem and deserve our help and respect just as much.
The Snakebite Survival Fund does multiple things:
- They help with victims' direct treatment by ensuring they reach suitable healthcare professionals.
- They pay for life-saving treatment that generally will not cost more than 250 euros!
- They teach about prevention, as the bite that never happens is easiest to treat.
Snakes themselves are also crucial to our mission. Many snake species are endangered, and we must ensure that these beautiful and highly important animals are protected.
In many cultures, snakes hold great significance, and from an economic perspective, they are essential as they help control and reduce pest species like mice and rats, which can sometimes devastate entire crops.
The Snakebite Survival Fund can make a difference for many children around the world, as it can save their life and pay for their rehabilitation and other after-care. In this way, the fund also creates more employment opportunities. By training snake catchers we can save animals' lives by catching and safely releasing them. The snake catchers form an important link in succeeding, because they know the locals, speak the language and will be able to educate them on how to deal with snakes and what to do when a bite occurs. Our mission is to develop more materials for education for all target audiences and to train more snake catchers.
We want to keep financially supporting the victims to offer them a chance to a bright future. One of our successes is an active informational hotline in India that allows people to directly contact the right healthcare providers and receive the right medication. This hotline also plays a vital role in determining the snake species involved, which is necessary for treatment. Another vital part of the help we offer is the development of ‘Snakebite Survival Kits’, a set of materials that can help with first aid and snakebite prevention, which are to be given out for free in areas where snakebites are prevalent.
Our partner in India (National Snakebite Initiative) has, with the help of our foundation, been able to start an awareness campaign in the form of informative stands in shopping malls. These stands are there to inform the local community about snakes and snake bites. This is critical information which will not only save the lives of people within the community, but those of many snakes that are often killed due to fear.
Local products from farmers are also sold at these stands, securing honest prices for farmers. Part of the proceeds is used in the treatment of snake bite victims. This is a clear win-win-win situation for snakes and people, and we are incredibly proud to be part of such programs.
To support this project, we are working together with National Snakebite Initiative and Snakebite Foundation.
Children's books
Providing the right education is a significant part of snake bite prevention. They provide this in the form of children's books available in multiple languages, with which we familiarise children with the world of toxins and give them the tips they need. The children's books can be downloaded here in Dutch, English, Korean, Spanish, and French.
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