Nigeria, Jan. 30 -- "It happened while I was on my way home from the market at 8:00 p.m.," says Noon Makor Arop, a Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) health promoter and community engagement supervisor in Abyei, South Sudan.

"I didn't realize it was a snake initially, but I soon felt pain and swelling in the bite area. I rushed to the hospital where my colleagues from MSF were working and I was treated with antivenom, recovered, and was discharged."

Around 1.5 billion people worldwide - nearly one-fifth of the global population - require medical intervention for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) like snakebite every year. There are 21 NTDs recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO), ranging from parasitic and...