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Snakebite Treatment in Tanzania: Identifying Gaps in Community Practices and Hospital Resources

Snakebite envenoming causes more than 140,000 deaths annually and at least triple this number of disabilities. The World Health Organization classified snakebite as a Neglected Tropical Disease in 2017 and developed a strategy to halve death and disability from snakebite by 2030. To achieve this goa...

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Autores principales: Margono, Felicia, Outwater, Anne H., Lowery Wilson, Michael, Howell, Kim M., Bärnighausen, Till
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9024466/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35457571
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19084701
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author Margono, Felicia
Outwater, Anne H.
Lowery Wilson, Michael
Howell, Kim M.
Bärnighausen, Till
author_facet Margono, Felicia
Outwater, Anne H.
Lowery Wilson, Michael
Howell, Kim M.
Bärnighausen, Till
author_sort Margono, Felicia
collection PubMed
description Snakebite envenoming causes more than 140,000 deaths annually and at least triple this number of disabilities. The World Health Organization classified snakebite as a Neglected Tropical Disease in 2017 and developed a strategy to halve death and disability from snakebite by 2030. To achieve this goal, snakebite victims need to receive safe and effective treatment. This descriptive, cross-sectional study surveyed student health professionals (N = 312) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and was designed to identify major gaps in community practices and hospital resources for snakebite treatment. Participants reported using traditional community practices (44%, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 39–50%), allopathic practices (7%, 95% CI = 5–11%), or a combination of both (49%, 95% CI = 43–54%) to treat snakebite. Harmful practices included tight arterial tourniquets (46%, 95% CI = 41–52%) and wound incisions (15%, 95% CI = 11–19%). Many participants (35%, 95% CI = 29–40%) also turned to traditional healers. Students who treated snakebite injuries within the last 5 years (N = 69) also reported their general experiences with snakebite in hospitals. Hospitals often lacked essential resources to treat snakebite victims, and 44% (95% CI = 30–59%) of snakebite victims arrived at a hospital only three or more hours after the bite. A significant percentage of snakebite victims experienced lasting damage (32%, 95% CI = 20–47%) or death (14%, 95% CI = 7–25%). Snakebite outcomes could likely be improved if hospitals were universally and consistently equipped with the essential resources to treat snakebite victims, such as antivenoms. Educational interventions aimed at communities should focus on discouraging tourniquet use and tampering with the wound. Collaboration between the allopathic and traditional health system could further boost snakebite outcomes because traditional healers are often the first health workers to see snakebite victims.
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spelling pubmed-90244662022-04-23 Snakebite Treatment in Tanzania: Identifying Gaps in Community Practices and Hospital Resources Margono, Felicia Outwater, Anne H. Lowery Wilson, Michael Howell, Kim M. Bärnighausen, Till Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Snakebite envenoming causes more than 140,000 deaths annually and at least triple this number of disabilities. The World Health Organization classified snakebite as a Neglected Tropical Disease in 2017 and developed a strategy to halve death and disability from snakebite by 2030. To achieve this goal, snakebite victims need to receive safe and effective treatment. This descriptive, cross-sectional study surveyed student health professionals (N = 312) in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and was designed to identify major gaps in community practices and hospital resources for snakebite treatment. Participants reported using traditional community practices (44%, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 39–50%), allopathic practices (7%, 95% CI = 5–11%), or a combination of both (49%, 95% CI = 43–54%) to treat snakebite. Harmful practices included tight arterial tourniquets (46%, 95% CI = 41–52%) and wound incisions (15%, 95% CI = 11–19%). Many participants (35%, 95% CI = 29–40%) also turned to traditional healers. Students who treated snakebite injuries within the last 5 years (N = 69) also reported their general experiences with snakebite in hospitals. Hospitals often lacked essential resources to treat snakebite victims, and 44% (95% CI = 30–59%) of snakebite victims arrived at a hospital only three or more hours after the bite. A significant percentage of snakebite victims experienced lasting damage (32%, 95% CI = 20–47%) or death (14%, 95% CI = 7–25%). Snakebite outcomes could likely be improved if hospitals were universally and consistently equipped with the essential resources to treat snakebite victims, such as antivenoms. Educational interventions aimed at communities should focus on discouraging tourniquet use and tampering with the wound. Collaboration between the allopathic and traditional health system could further boost snakebite outcomes because traditional healers are often the first health workers to see snakebite victims. MDPI 2022-04-13 /pmc/articles/PMC9024466/ /pubmed/35457571 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19084701 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Margono, Felicia
Outwater, Anne H.
Lowery Wilson, Michael
Howell, Kim M.
Bärnighausen, Till
Snakebite Treatment in Tanzania: Identifying Gaps in Community Practices and Hospital Resources
title Snakebite Treatment in Tanzania: Identifying Gaps in Community Practices and Hospital Resources
title_full Snakebite Treatment in Tanzania: Identifying Gaps in Community Practices and Hospital Resources
title_fullStr Snakebite Treatment in Tanzania: Identifying Gaps in Community Practices and Hospital Resources
title_full_unstemmed Snakebite Treatment in Tanzania: Identifying Gaps in Community Practices and Hospital Resources
title_short Snakebite Treatment in Tanzania: Identifying Gaps in Community Practices and Hospital Resources
title_sort snakebite treatment in tanzania: identifying gaps in community practices and hospital resources
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9024466/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35457571
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19084701
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