Monkeypox: Developing frameworks for control of bush meat consumption

MONKEYPOX, a zoonotic disease of viral origin caused by monkeypox virus, an enveloped double stranded DNA virus belonging to Orthopox genus of the Poxviridae family, has emerged as the most important orthopox virus of public health concern of recent. Although, in the past, the disease was limited to Central and West African countries, associated with proximity to tropical rainforest, which was believed to be favourable to the propagation and maintenance of the virus in its reservoirs, mainly rodents of different species, it is no longer so, as it has spread to countries where it has not been reported before, especially in the western part of the globe. More than 95 new countries have been affected in addition to the previous countries of Central and West Africa. The dynamics of transmission of the disease is not fully clear, but it appears to be evolving, leaving many gaps that must be bridged, if control measures would be effective.

The response of Nigeria to this ravaging disease, which re- emerged in 2017 till date after the last reported case in 1978 has been very robust. This was made possible through the synergistic efforts of the Nigerian Centre for Disease Control (NCDC), National Veterinary Research Institute, (NVRI) Vom and other relevant stakeholders in the spirit of ‘One Health Approach’. The United States Defense Threat Reduction Agency (US-DTRA) also contributed significantly to this feat through training and retraining of technical manpower in order to defeat this disease. However, despite the commendable efforts of government and other stakeholders so far, there are many areas where novel approaches would be essential in order to achieve the set goal of elimination of the disease in Nigeria. These include tackling the challenge of low level of awareness of the disease among majority of Nigerians especially, the rural dwellers where more than 70 per cent of the population reside, most of whom are without access to basic infrastructural amenities, including tools for effective communication.

This is where the use of the local governance and administrative structure i.e. the traditional and religious leaders to reach the people are essential. There is also a dire need for continuous upgrade of existing medical infrastructure, especially at the primary and secondary level of health services. This would facilitate early presentation of the patients in the clinic as well as facilitate timely diagnosis of the disease. The Disease Surveillance and Notification Officers (DSNOs) also need to be trained and retrained to improve their effectiveness and efficiency. Furthermore, it should be noted that achieving the above may not be sufficient to stamp out the disease or guarantee optimal result if adequate measures to prevent continuous ‘spill-over’ from animals are not put in place. This is why it is crucial to develop appropriate context specific policy frameworks to bring the activities of hunters and bush meat processors under control. The rationality of consumption of bush meat has been the subject of intense debate over the years. From the biodiversity conservation point of view, all categories of game hunting (including those animals that are not on endangered species list) must be abolished. Such argument appear blunt, unrealistic and insensitive to the socio-economic, religious and cultural practices of large segment of the population whose livelihood support depends on game hunting and processing of bush meat, especially in the rural and peri-urban areas. While urban consumers of bush meat may have other alternatives to meet their daily protein requirements, the same cannot be said of rural dwellers. This is the reason why consumption of bush meat has not abated in Nigeria despite the official banning of the commodity by the Federal Government of Nigeria early this year.

As of now, the said ban is not enforceable. Since the policy statement was made, no one has been reportedly apprehended or tried in the court of law for flouting the directive! No legislation can directly stop the people from eating game, especially, those that are not listed on the endangered species list. This is because game contributes to food security. It is culturally acceptable and in some occasions in African Traditional Religion’s context, it could be ‘prescribed’. Context specific policy could however be very helpful to obtain the desired result. Context specific policies are policies that are carefully crafted to reflect the need and circumstances of a particular locality to address a peculiar problem without compromising acceptable standard. In the context of monkeypox prevention and control, context specific policy framework should consider sustained advocacy in form of large scale public awareness and sensitization campaigns aimed at educating the public about health and ecological risks of consuming high risk bush meat species. The collaboration of NCDC, National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) and National Park Service is important in this regards. In addition, information about basic zoo- sanitary protocols that could prevent ‘spill-over’ from wild animals to man during handling and processing should be actively disseminated through conventional and non- conventional communication channels, recognizing the roles of aforementioned un-official routes to get information to the grassroots. Instead of stigmatizing bush meat vendors, they should be organized into association and cooperative societies which can be engaged routinely for capacity building through seminars and workshops especially on themes such as infection prevention and control measures etc. These include frequent performance of hand hygiene, the use of rubber boots, hand (hard ware) gloves, nose masks, goggles and cover all. Hunters could also be intimated with hygienic practices such as keeping their harvested game in leak- proof bags to prevent spillage of blood and body fluid on their bodies when conveying the carcass from the bush.

Routine use of disinfectants to disinfect work area surfaces including tables, floor and containers should be emphasised. Through continuous engagements, sustainable hunting practices that would prevent over exploitation of biodiversity resources could be passed across to the hunters and bush meat processors. This approach would serve many purposes, namely, disease prevention and sustainable hunting practices among others. Through this initiative, livelihood diversification could also be made possible for hunters and bush meat operators which would ultimately lead to conservation of biodiversity and sustainable development. In conclusion, it is desirable for the Federal Department of Veterinary and Pest Control Services in conjunction with the department of veterinary services across the federation to develop mechanisms of oversight functions (by way of meat inspection) over the games permitted under the law to be consumed to ensure wholesomeness, thereby safeguarding public health and food safety. By doing so with great caution, such efforts would yield useful data for surveillance of wild life diseases thereby providing sentinel information that may help in planning both human and animals contingency actions. All these measures would go a long way to protect the health of the people who have direct dealings with wild life while ensuring that livelihood loses and socioeconomic disruptions of the segment of the society whose lives depend on this venture is consciously avoided.