Healthcare workers' priorities of WHO snakebite strategic objectives for the control and prevention of snakebite envenoming in the Eastern Region of Ghana: A machine learning statistical design of experiment modeling.

Journal: PLoS neglected tropical diseases
Published Date: Jul 10, 2025

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Snakebite is a severe neglected tropical disease (NTD) that affects 2.5 million people each year, resulting in the deaths of 81,000-138,000 individuals, including rural villagers, agricultural workers, and children. The World Health Organization (WHO) has set strategic objectives to halve the deaths and disabilities caused by snakebite envenoming (SBE) by 2030. This study used innovative research methods, such as the statistical design of experiments and machine learning (ML), to explore healthcare workers' priorities in Ghana regarding the WHO's strategic objectives for controlling and preventing SBE. The goal was to identify their priority needs to guide the development of a research agenda and relevant interventions or policies that prioritize local needs while aligning with the WHO's strategic objectives for SBE control and prevention.

Authors

  • Eric Nyarko
    Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, College of Basic and Applied Sciences, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana.
  • Iddrisu Abugbil Atubiga
    Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, College of Basic and Applied Sciences, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana.
  • Emmanuel Tetteh Siame
    Department of Statistics and Actuarial Science, School of Physical and Mathematical Sciences, College of Basic and Applied Sciences, University of Ghana, Legon, Accra, Ghana.
  • José María Gutiérrez
    Instituto Clodomiro Picado, Facultad de Microbiología, Universidad de Costa Rica, San José, Costa Rica.
  • Eduardo Alberto Fernandez
    Department of Health Sciences, Brock University, St Catharines, Ontario, Canada.

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