Participatory approaches and open data on venomous snakes: A neglected opportunity in the global snakebite crisis?

Abstract

With over 100,000 human deaths and 400,000 cases of physical disability globally every year [1], snakebite is a major neglected tropical killer dramatically affecting poor and rural communities in Africa, Latin America, and Asia These communities have no political voice, and Me decins Sans Frontires refers to a "public health emergency gone under the radar," stressing the lack of reliable reporting systems and an important underestimation of the global snakebite burden [1, 2, 3]. In addition, pharmaceutical companies have poor market incentive for antivenom production