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Transcript/Script((PLAYBOOK SLUG: SAFRICA POWER ANTI-VENOM (TV/R)
HEADLINE: South Africa’s Power Crisis Causing Anti-Venom Shortage
TEASER: Snake experts try to raise public awareness in sub-Saharan Africa
PUBLISHED: 04/xx/2023 at
BYLINE: Vicky Stark
CONTRIBUTOR:
DATELINE: Cape Town, South Africa
VIDEOGRAPHER: Shadley Lombard
PRODUCER: Vicky Stark
SCRIPT EDITORS: Mia Bush, Jepsen
VIDEO SOURCE (S): Original
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO _X_
TRT: 2:39
VID APPROVED BY: wpm
TYPE: TVPKG
EDITOR NOTES:))
((INTRO))
[[Snake experts in South Africa say an energy crisis is partly to blame for a shortage of antivenom in sub-Saharan Africa that has left at least three people dead in the past three weeks. South Africa supplies antivenom to the region, but frequent power cuts have made it harder to store the refrigerated supplies. Vicky Stark reports from Cape Town, South Africa.]]
((ROLL PACKAGE))
((nat sound, no courtesy all original footage))
((Bjorn inside the reptile garden))
((NARRATOR))
Bjorn Unger is the owner of the Reptile Garden. He’s been working with venomous snakes for the past 24 years and hasn’t been bitten once.
And right now, he’s praying his luck doesn’t run out.
Because thanks to a power shortage, he has no antivenom.
((Bjorn showing the cape cobra))
He’s showing us a Cape cobra.
((RADIO TRACK: Handling the yellow snake, he says they come in many different colors.))
((BJORN ACT IN ENGLISH))
((Bjorn Unger, Reptile Garden Owner))
“They are extremely problematic, the cobra and the black mamba, in that they have extremely potent venom. They are responsible for most [of the] fatal snake bites in South Africa. And we do also get a lot of bites from the puff adders and the Mozambique spitters [[spitting cobras]].”
((HEATH WALKING IN THE WETLAND WHERE HE WAS BITTEN))
((NARRATOR))
Alan Heath was recently bitten by a Cape cobra in this wetland area in Noordhoek, Cape Town.
He’s lived to tell the tale, thanks to local snake catcher Steven Meighan, who knew where there was a stash of antivenom.
The two local hospitals Heath initially was taken to didn’t have any.
((HEATH AND MEIGHAN SITTING TOGETHER))
((ALAN HEATH ACT IN ENGLISH ))
((Alan Heath, Snake Bite Survivor))
“I was walking the dogs and the first thing I noticed, I just had a sharp pain in my left ankle, and I looked down and the snake was actually attached to it. So I just grabbed it and threw it away.”
((SUPER@ WARNING GRAPHIC VISIALS))
(( PHOTOS OF HEATH’S ANKLE))
((NARRATOR))
Meighan says it’s a miracle Heath survived. In sub-Saharan Africa, as many as 20,000 people die a year, according to the World Health Organization, an admitted underestimate.
Meighan says the snake community has been battling to get answers about the shortage from government officials since it started a year ago and is affecting the entire sub-Saharan region.
Another snake catcher, Arno Naude, is part of the National Snakebite Advisory Group, which includes top medical professionals. They have written to government officials, appealing for urgent help.
((ARNO NAUDE ACT IN ENGLISH)) ZOOM
((Arno Naude, National Snakebite Advisory Group))
“Recently now, in eSwatini, which used to be Swaziland, we’ve had three people who have died as a result of not being able to get antivenom. ((JOIN BYTE)) As well as, we’re losing dogs on a daily basis.”
((NARRATOR))
Naude says certain government hospitals have no anti-venom while others don’t have sufficient supplies for adequate treatment of even one venomous snake bite.
((ARNO NAUDE ACT IN ENGLISH)) ZOOM
((Arno Naude, National Snakebite Advisory Group))
“Yes, we can pull them through with maybe six or eight vials [of anti-venom], but they probably are going to have kidney damage. They probably are going to lose tissue on part of their skin. They may have an amputation.”
((NARRATOR))
In response to VOA’s questions, the National Health Laboratory Services says production levels of antivenom should be adequate by the end of May.
((Vicky Stark, for VOA News, Cape Town, South Africa))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Location (dateline)Cape Town, South Africa
BylineVicky Stark
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
