5 research outputs found
Understanding consumer demand for bushmeat in urban centers of Cameroon with a focus on pangolin species
Bushmeat consumption remains significant in urban Central Africa. Increasing urbanization has fueled bushmeat trade and become a threat to endangered species like the pangolin. Behavioral change interventions may help reduce demand for pangolins in urban centers. However, there is still a lack of adequate locally-specific research on consumer behavior and drivers of demand to effectively guide such interventions. Our study addressed this knowledge gap through semistructured interviews to investigate consumer preferences and bushmeat consumption habits and perceptions of 597 participants in Bertoua and Ebolowa, Cameroon. Bushmeat, in general, was positively perceived as a tasty, healthy, and luxurious item that meets cultural needs, while domestic meat was negatively perceived as an unhealthy and intensively processed product. The biggest barriers to bushmeat consumption were its illegality and high price. Pangolin was among the most desired types of bushmeat. Nearly half of pangolin consumers were willing to pay more for a pangolin meal. Despite being fully protected by national laws, pangolins were consistently found in local bushmeat markets and restaurants, suggesting the ineffectiveness in law enforcement and/or communication with the public about the legal protection and current status of pangolins. Our findings provide an understanding of sociocultural consumer behavior and drivers that can help guide bushmeat demand reduction interventions in urban centers of Cameroon
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Economic commodity or environmental crisis? An interdisciplinary approach to analysing the bushmeat trade in central and west Africa
Bushmeat is a large but largely invisible contributor to the economies of west and central African countries. Yet the trade is currently unsustainable. Hunting is reducing wildlife populations, driving more vulnerable species to local and regional extinction, and threatening biodiversity. This paper uses a commodity chain approach to explore the bushmeat trade and to demonstrate why an interdisciplinary approach is required if the trade is to be sustainable in the future
Food and Environmental Parasitology in Canada: A Network for the Facilitation of Collaborative Research
Parasitic diseases are of considerable public health
significance in Canada, particularly in rural and remote
areas. Food- and waterborne parasites contribute
significantly to the overall number of parasitic infections
reported in Canada. While data on the incidence of some
of these diseases are available, knowledge of the true
burden of infection by the causative agents in Canadians
is somewhat limited. A number of centers of expertise
in Canada study various aspects of parasitology, but few
formal societies or networks of parasitologists currently
exist in Canada, and previously none focused specifically
on food or environmental transmission. The recently
established Food and Environmental Parasitology Network
(FEPN) brings together Canadian researchers, regulators
and public health officials with an active involvement in
issues related to these increasingly important fields.
The major objectives of the Network include identifying
research gaps, facilitating discussion and collaborative
research, developing standardized methods, generating
data for risk assessments, policies, and guidelines, and
providing expert advice and testing in support of outbreak
investigations and surveillance studies. Issues considered
by the FEPN include contaminated foods and infected food
animals, potable and non-potable water, Northern and
Aboriginal issues, zoonotic transmission, and epidemiolog