Community Health Officers trained as first responders to snakebites in Mysuru

A five-day training on snakebite management was conducted with 280 Community Health Officers, who were equipped to be the first responders to snakebites in Mysuru district.

The training programme was conducted recently by the District Surveillance Unit Office of the Department of Health and Family Welfare in Mysuru, in collaboration with Humane World for Animals India (formerly Humane Society International India), and Liana Trust.

A release said that the training covered essential information on primary treatment and emergency management of snakebites, and is an attempt to address a major public health concern in the country.

It is reckoned that an estimated 58,000 people die due to snakebites, and around 2,00,000 people suffer from life-altering health issues in India every year, the release said.

The training programme has helped to provide knowledge to community officers which will not only save human lives, but also prevent killing of snakes by people, out of fear, the authorities added.

The training of the 280 Community Health Officers was conducted for five days, and they were drawn from all the taluks of the district. They were given extensive information on topics such as commonly encountered venomous snakes, identifying signs of snakebite, prevention strategies, do’s and don’ts during a bite incident, the importance of coexistence with snakes in rural areas, and the psychological and socio-economic impact of snakebites on families and individuals.

District Surveillance Officer D.G. Nagaraj pointed out that Community Health Officers are the primary responders to community health problems and serve as a key link between rural communities and public health systems. Hence, training them on snake bite management was vital, he said.

He said that there are nearly 330 Community Health Officers in Mysuru, and all of them are now trained as first responders to snakebite and its management.

Jerry Martin, founder and trustee of Liana Trust, which is striving to address and resolve human-wildlife conflict, said while research into developing new treatments and improving existing ones is ongoing, the role of community education in preventing bites and deaths is just as important.

According to Sumanth Bindumadhav, director of Wildlife Protection at Humane World for Animals India, if community members have the correct information, snakebites can be prevented, human lives can be saved, and cruelty towards snakes can also be curtailed.

Humane World for Animals India and Liana Trust have been working with Mysuru district since 2018 to make the city a model for snakebite prevention and management strategies through ecological studies, social surveys, community outreach, policy reform, and institutional capacity building. In February 2024, Karnataka became the first Indian state to declare snakebite as a notifiable disease, the release added.