Is a Total Ban on Business and Consumption of Bushmeat a Sustainable End Game for Ebola Outbreak in West Africa: But Why Now?

Abstract

Background:Bushmeat has for time immemorial been a staple food and source of dietary pro-tein for indigenous people around the world. Products from wildlife have enormous economic and medicinal value and native people use animal artefacts for personal adornment and as hunting trophies. Recently, wild fruit bats have been implicated in the human index cases of the deadly Ebola disease outbreaks. People became infected after getting in contact with secretions and meat from infected fruit bats.Objective: To document the perception of the community on sustainability of total ban on bush-meat in West Africa in order to stop the 2014 Ebola outbreak.Methods:Ethnographic data collection methods consisted of observation of practices associ-ated to risk of Ebola infection and prevention. For example, we carried out observation of bushmeat markets with a focus on meat processing involving contact with blood and fluids from animals. Qualitative data collected was based on focus group discussions. Results:One hundred and fifty persons participated in the study. Banning business and con-suming of bushmeat was seen by the community as designed to serve ulterior motives by government. The community expected more emphasis to be attached to efforts at breaking the chain of human-to-human transmission. People who did not consume bushmeat thought they were protected from catching the disease thus giving them false security.Conclusion:Communities considered the ban on business in bushmeat to be temporary. Em-phasis should be put on social mobilization and communication focusing on human-to-human transmission. There is need for additional anthropological research to determine the sustain-ability of the ban after the Ebola outbreak is over and adoption of measures to prevent the future transmission of the disease from animals to humans.