The time is now: a call for action to translate recent momentum on tackling tropical snakebite into sustained benefit for victims.

The time is now: a call for action to translate recent momentum on tackling tropical snakebite into sustained benefit for victims. Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2019 Jan 21;: Authors: Harrison RA, Casewell NR, Ainsworth SA, Lalloo DG Abstract Like the other WHO-listed Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs), snakebite primarily affects rural, impoverished tropical communities that lack adequate health resources. The annual 138 000 deaths and 400 000 disabilities suffered by these subsistence farming communities means that snakebite is an additional cause and consequence of tropical poverty. Unlike most of the NTDs, however, snakebite is a medical emergency, and requires rapid treatment in a hospital equipped with effective antivenom, beds and appropriately trained staff. The lack of such facilities in the remote areas most affected by snakebite, and the high treatment costs, explains why most victims, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, consult traditional healers rather than seek hospital care. Whilst affordable, there is no evidence that traditional treatments are effective. The number of snakebite victims that die, unregistered, in the community is threefold higher than hospital-recorded deaths.After decades of inertia, WHO benefitted from advocacy interventions and the support of key agencies, including Médecins Sans Frontières, the Wellcome Trust, the Kofi Annan Foundation and the Global Snakebite Initiative, to recently institute tran...
Source: Rural Remote Health - Category: Rural Health Authors: Tags: Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg Source Type: research