Neglected Tropical Diseases and Snakebite

Why diseases that mainly affect the world's poorest people receive little research and investment, and how cheap treatments and mass drug programmes can help.

Neglected tropical diseases are a group of infections that mainly affect poor communities in tropical regions. They include diseases like lymphatic filariasis, visceral leishmaniasis, known in India as kala-azar, dengue, intestinal worms, trachoma and others. The WHO also added snakebite envenoming to its list in 2017.

Why they are neglected

These diseases mostly affect people with little purchasing power. Drug companies see little profit in developing treatments for patients who cannot pay, a market failure that leaves research underfunded. Affected communities also have limited political influence.

The burden

Neglected tropical diseases affect over a billion people worldwide. They rarely make headlines because many cause long-term disability rather than sudden death: disfigurement, blindness, reduced school attendance and lost work.

Low-cost solutions

Many are preventable or treatable cheaply:

Mass drug administration: giving medicines to entire communities at risk, often donated by pharmaceutical companies. India has used mass drug administration to fight lymphatic filariasis.
Deworming children, which is cheap and was linked to better school attendance in Kenyan studies.
Improved sanitation and water.
Vector control against mosquitoes and sandflies.

India’s progress

India was certified free of yaws by the WHO in 2016 and of trachoma as a public health problem in 2024. It has greatly reduced kala-azar cases, aiming for elimination.

Snakebite

India has one of the world’s highest numbers of snakebite deaths. A study published in 2020 estimated around 58,000 snakebite deaths a year in India between 2000 and 2019, mostly among rural farmers and workers. Access to antivenom and quick treatment are key, but many victims reach hospitals late or seek traditional healers first.

The farmer and the snake

A farmer is bitten by a snake while working in a rice field at night. The nearest hospital with antivenom is hours away, and a local healer is closer. By the time he reaches the hospital, it is too late. Better access to antivenom in rural health centres, faster transport and awareness could save many such lives cheaply.

Thinking these diseases are unimportant because they get little attention

Neglected tropical diseases affect over a billion people and cause enormous disability and lost income. Their low profile reflects the poverty of those affected, not their importance.

Key takeaways

Neglected tropical diseases mainly affect the world's poorest people.
Low profits for drug makers create a market failure in research.
Mass drug administration, deworming, sanitation and vector control are cheap and effective.
India eliminated yaws and trachoma as public health problems; snakebite still kills tens of thousands yearly.