The World’s Ignored Health Crisis

ProSocial has consulted on social impact campaigns on behalf of a slew of issues related to health and well-being, education, the environment, women’s empowerment, and more. Recently, something unusual happened: We were asked to help a documentary film about a social issue that we not only had never worked on before…but also had no idea was an issue.

That film is called “Minutes to Die,” and it’s the untold story of snakebite: the crisis, the victims, and the path toward solutions. Yes, snakebite. We were shocked to learn it’s a widespread public health emergency that takes a grievous toll in the developing world, killing about as many people per month as the Ebola crisis did in two years. While it’s preventable and treatable, it claims the lives of more than 125,000 people a year, while leaving another 400,000 survivors disabled and disfigured.

For years, this crisis has garnered hardly any headlines, much less help—in part because its victims are among the world’s most impoverished. The men, women, and children who are commonly affected live in rural farming communities across Africa and India where antivenom is inaccessible or unaffordable. “Minutes to Die” makes clear that snakebite is a social issue, a health issue, and a social justice issue.

Director James Reid and the Lillian Lincoln Foundation, which produced the film, are on a mission to bring this problem to the world’s attention and encourage lifesaving solutions.

An excerpt of the film was shown to World Health Organization officials last year. In June, the WHO added snakebite envenoming to its list of recognized Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). We’re now at a turning point for getting the issue on the global health community’s radar.

But for snakebite’s victims to stop being ignored, their stories need to be heard, and the issue needs to stop being unknown. Join us in knowing, caring, and sharing about snakebite. Visit our new film campaign website, minutestodie.com, and share the issue.