Snakebite Film Screening & Discussion with Doctors Without Borders

Minutes to Die
Snakebite: A Hidden Health Crisis
Film Screening and Discussion

Tuesday, February 12, 2019

7:00pm

Paley Center for Media - Bennack Theater

25 West 52nd Street

New York, NY 10019

Nearly 50,000 lives are lost each year in India from snakebites, according to India’s Million Death Study, with an estimated three times that number suffering from lifelong disfigurement, amputations and mental health issues.

Snakebite has long been considered one of the world’s most ignored global health issues. The World Health Organization now officially recognizes snakebite as a Neglected Tropical Disease, and has developed an ambitious global road map to tackle the issue.

Minutes to Die is the first ever documentary bringing attention to the snakebite crisis in India, Southeast Asia and Sub Saharan Africa, and the film is playing a vital role in galvanizing action to address the challenges.

The event will feature James Reid, director of Minutes to Die, Dr. John Lawrence, Doctors Without Borders Board of Directors president, Dr. David Williams, head of the World Health Organization's Snakebite Envenoming Working Group, and Dr. Matt Lewin, president and founder of Ophirex for a screening and discussion of Reid's documentary film. The discussion will be moderated by Dr. Matthew Coldiron, Medical Epidemiologist at Epicentre.

Check-in will begin at 6:30pm and a reception will follow the discussion until 10pm.

This event is sponsored by Doctors Without Borders, The American India Foundation New York Young Professionals Chapter, and The Lillian Lincoln Foundation.

Due to limited seating, RSVP's are on a first-come, first-served basis. Please arrive early to secure your seat.

Flim Synopsis: From Sub-Saharan Africa to Southeast Asia, more than 500,000 snakebite victims die or suffer from lifelong disfigurement and amputations each year. Death from snakebites claim roughly the same number of lives every month, as the total number of lives lost to Ebola since it’s outbreak in 2014. Studies claim the rural poor fear snakebite, more than malaria, tuberculosis or HIV.

This voiceless population of the rural poor already struggling to earn a dollar a day, find themselves racing to unequipped hospitals devoid of antivenom, or supplies that are unsafe and unaffordable. It is a global health crisis the world knows little about.

‘Minutes to Die’ travels to five continents to capture the cries for help, the financial ruin families face to save loved ones and the heroic scientists rushing to create break-through solutions. Will world health powers and governments in endemic countries finally act after years of ignoring what they’ve know all along? Who in the world will become the champions of a voiceless population? Find out more at www.minutestodie.com.

Facebook: www.facebook.com/minutestodie
Twitter: www.twitter.com/Minutes2DieDoc

The use of The Paley Center for Media’s facilities does not constitute endorsement by the Paley Center of any views expressed during this event.

Directions by Subway: E or M to Fifth Avenue and 53 Street; N or R to 49 Street and Seventh Avenue; 1 to 50 Street and Broadway; B, D, F, or M to 47-50 Street/Rockefeller Center. The Paley Center is on 52 Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.