How African Healthcare Workers Are Using AI To Combat Deadly Snakebites

In rural South Sudan, where venomous snakebites claim thousands of lives annually, a new AI initiative is giving healthcare workers a lifeline. 

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is piloting an AI-driven app that can identify dangerous snake species, offering hope in a region where access to effective treatments is scarce. 

With snakebites killing between 81,000 and 138,000 people globally each year, this solution could help save lives by ensuring the right antivenom is administered promptly.

Tackling A Neglected Crisis

Snakebite envenoming is one of the world’s most overlooked tropical diseases, with rural, impoverished communities in sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia disproportionately affected. 

South Sudan alone records around 20,000 deaths annually due to venomous snakebites, a crisis worsened by limited access to affordable and accurate antivenoms. 

In response, MSF’s AI-powered tool seeks to address the biggest challenge in treating snakebite victims: identifying the specific snake responsible.

Natural disasters and displacement increase the risk of snakebites, yet snakebite envenoming continues to receive little attention from global health agendas.

AI Brings Hope to Rural Communities

To combat this, MSF has teamed up with the University of Geneva and herpetologist Andrew Durso to create an AI model that can distinguish snake species based on over 380,000 images. 

This technology has the potential to revolutionize snakebite treatment in remote areas by helping healthcare providers identify the correct antivenom quickly.

“Early results are promising; the AI sometimes identifies snakes even better than experts,” Dr Gabriel Alcoba, an MSF medical adviser on snakebites and neglected tropical diseases, said according to The Guardian.

“I remember a time when we used photo albums to identify snakes in MSF hospitals. Medical staff would flip through pictures to figure out which snake had bitten a patient,” he added.

Currently, MSF is trialling the app in South Sudan, where health workers are using it to catalog snake species and improve its accuracy. 

While the project is still in its early stages, the potential for widespread use in other snakebite-prone regions is significant. 

If successful, the AI tool could help reduce the high mortality rate associated with snakebites and lower treatment costs by eliminating the guesswork in snake identification.

A Long Road Ahead

While this AI solution is promising, challenges remain. Identifying venomous species accurately is crucial, as a misidentification could result in delayed or inappropriate treatment. 

Alcoba cautions that further development is needed before the app can be widely deployed, but he remains optimistic about its potential to transform how snakebites are treated worldwide.

Feature Image Credit: Christina Simons/MSF