How and why snakebite became a global health priority: a policy analysis

BACKGROUND: Snakebite was added to the WHO neglected tropical disease (NTD) list in 2017, followed by a World Health Assembly resolution in 2018, and an explicit global target being set to reduce the burden in 2019. We aimed to understand how and why snakebite became a global health priority. METHODS: We conducted a policy case study, using in-depth interviews, and documents (peer-reviewed and grey literature) as data sources. We drew on Shiffman et al’s framework on global health network to guide the analysis. RESULTS: We conducted 20 interviews and examined 91 documents. The prioritisation of snakebite occurred in four phases: pre-crescendo, crescendo, de-crescendo and re-crescendo. The core snakebite network consisted of academics, which expanded during the re-crescendo phase to include civil society organisations and state actors. The involvement of diverse stakeholders led to better understanding of WHO processes. The use of intersecting and layered issue framing, framing solutions around snake antivenoms, in a background of cross-cultural fascination and fear of snakes enabled prioritisation in the re-crescendo phase. Ebbs and flows in legitimacy of the network and reluctant acceptance of snakebite within the NTD community are challenges. CONCLUSION: Our analyses imply a fragile placement of snakebite in the global agenda. We identify two challenges, which needs to be overcome. The study highlights the need to review the WHO criteria for classifying diseases as NTD. We propose that future prioritisation analysis should consider identifying temporal patterns, as well as integrating legitimacy dimensions, as in our study.