Moroccan researcher Dr. Naoual Oukkache has been selected among “Women Champions” of Snakebite Campaign, on the occasion of the International Snakebite Awareness Day (ISBAD), marked on 19 September.
Naoual Oukkache, who is the head of the Venoms and Toxins laboratory at the Institut Pasteur of Morocco, is currently developing a new type of antivenom against the molecules responsible for mortality, said ISBAD proponents in a release.
Oukkache’s research is aimed at improving current treatments of snakebites and scorpion stings in order to reduce the lethality and the number of disfigurements that happen every year, according to the same source.
While COVID-19 is dominating the news, other diseases, such as snakebite envenoming, drop off the global radar, the source said, noting that hundreds of thousands of people are still dying, are disabled or suffer from other long-term effects resulting from a bite.
“Therefore, International Snakebite Awareness Day (ISBAD), marked on 19 September, has never been more important than this year.”
The proponents of this action, including Lillian Lincoln Foundation (LLF), Health Action International (HAI) and the Global Snakebite Initiative (GSI), have decided this year to shed light on women’s action in this field.
“For this reason, we chose this year’s ISBAD to launch our campaign WOMEN CHAMPIONS OF SNAKEBITE. Through this campaign we are shedding a light on all the women working tirelessly each and every day to mitigate snakebite suffering,” the source pointed out.
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