Up to one-third of annual global snakebite deaths occur in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), with an upper estimate of 32,000 per year. The African Snakebite Alliance, funded by Wellcome Trust, aims to improve health outcomes for people affected by snakebite envenoming by addressing evidence gaps in policy and practice in Africa.

In this call, two different types of proposals will be funded:
– Three Network research proposals, which should be for 2 years with a maximum budget of £100,000 per proposal
– Two Postdoc research proposals, which should be for 2 years with a maximum budget of £50,000 per proposal

Priority areas for funding
The proposals submitted to this call are expected to address at least one of the following activities in scope.

Research activities related to burden aim to:
– Reduce gaps between true SBE incidence and available data
– Identify hotspots (data capture, mapping and surveillance)
– Assess long-term consequences (including economic burden) of snakebite envenoming  for society and the health care system

Research activities related to treatment aim to:
– Optimize antivenom distribution and/or the supply chain
– Evaluate options to decentralize treatment to the community level
– Improve access to healthcare facilities
– Optimize rehabilitation and quality of life after the bite