Effects of Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak on Bush Meat Enterprise and Environmental Health Risk Behavior Among Households
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Effects of Ebola Virus Disease Outbreak on Bush Meat Enterprise and Environmental Health Risk Behavior Among Households in South‑East Nigeria NwaJesus Anthony Onyekuru1 · Chukwuma Otum Ume2 · Chizoba Perpetua Ezea3 · Nice Nneoma Chukwuma Ume4 Accepted: 13 November 2020 / Published online: 22 November 2020 © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract The 2014 disease outbreak in West Africa of the Ebola virus was the longest, largest, deadliest, and most complex epidemic of its kind in history. It was believed to have originated from bushmeat consumption and exhibited sustained human-tohuman transmission. We assessed the effects of the virus outbreak in West Africa on bushmeat enterprise and environmental health risk behaviors among households in Nigeria. We adopted a multistage sampling technique to select 100 respondents. We structured two sets of questionnaires for both bushmeat sellers and consumers. The questionnaire contained information about the respondent’s socioeconomic characteristics; perceived causes of the Ebola outbreak; risk behaviors; level of sales; and consumption before, during, and after the Ebola outbreak. We found a significant decrease in the levels of sales and consumption of bushmeat during the outbreak. Consumers perceived touching an infected person, but not eating bushmeat, as a significant mode of Ebola transmission. Although respondents knew about some practices that help to prevent Ebola, they did not practice these to a reasonable extent. We also found that females were 25% more likely than males to consume bushmeat during the outbreak. Given these findings, we recommend that the government should sensitize people and educate them on risk prevention behaviors they should adopt to prevent the transmission of the Ebola disease. Keywords Ebola · Health risk · Bushmeat · Environmental hygiene · Disease outbreak Abbreviations (EVD) Ebola Virus Disease (LGAs) Local Government Areas
* Chukwuma Otum Ume [email protected]‑giessen.de Extended author information available on the last page of the article
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The Journal of Primary Prevention (2020) 41:603–618
Background The term bushmeat is commonly used for the meat of terrestrial wild or feral mammals, killed for sustenance or commercial purposes throughout the humid tropics of the Americas, Asia, and Africa (Nasi et al., 2008). Over 500 species are consumed in Sub-Saharan Africa, including red duikers (antelopes), panthers, chimpanzees, gorillas, elephants, African rock pythons, monitor lizards, turtles, porcupines, and bonobos (Fa & Brown, 2009; Umejei, 2011). There are also numerous edible arthropods such as bees, wasps, grasshoppers, crickets, cockroaches, termites, and dragonflies, as well as cicadas. In fact, the Food and Agriculture Organization (2013) acknowledged that edible insects have the potential to be a food prospect for those who are food insecure. Bushmeat has long served as an important source of animal protein and a food staple for millions of people acros
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