The ambitious WHO goal of halving snakebite mortality by 2030 is challenged by a number of logistical hurdles, none more so than in India where snakebite envenomation presents a multifaceted challenge. We have collaborated with several organizations focused on snakebite in India over the last 11 years, with an emphasis on fieldwork to collect samples from venomous snakes in various regions, particularly understudied regions in the northeast and western Himalayas. This programme has encountered several significant obstacles, including securing permits from government organizations to collect snake samples in the field, obtaining long-term research funding, coordinating multidisciplinary collaboration on snakebite projects and engaging with grassroots stakeholders who are most affected by snakebite incidents. We emphasize the necessity of adopting a nationally coordinated yet regionally diversified approach that accounts for the biogeographical and cultural complexity of the country.
BT - Transactions of The Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene DO - 10.1093/trstmh/trae104 IS - 6 LA - eng M3 - Research Article N2 -The ambitious WHO goal of halving snakebite mortality by 2030 is challenged by a number of logistical hurdles, none more so than in India where snakebite envenomation presents a multifaceted challenge. We have collaborated with several organizations focused on snakebite in India over the last 11 years, with an emphasis on fieldwork to collect samples from venomous snakes in various regions, particularly understudied regions in the northeast and western Himalayas. This programme has encountered several significant obstacles, including securing permits from government organizations to collect snake samples in the field, obtaining long-term research funding, coordinating multidisciplinary collaboration on snakebite projects and engaging with grassroots stakeholders who are most affected by snakebite incidents. We emphasize the necessity of adopting a nationally coordinated yet regionally diversified approach that accounts for the biogeographical and cultural complexity of the country.
PB - Oxford University Press (OUP) PY - 2025 SP - 632 EP - 634 T2 - Transactions of The Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene TI - Challenges of researching snakes in India UR - https://academic.oup.com/trstmh/article/119/6/632/7931497 VL - 119 SN - 0035-9203, 1878-3503 ER -