Risk perceptions and behaviors of actors in the wild animal value chain in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo

Abstract

In the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) which contains the greatest area of the second largest rainforest on Earth, people have long been connected to the forest for subsistence and livelihood from wild animals and bushmeat. This qualitative study sought to characterize the bushmeat movement—from hunting wild animals to market sale—and the roles of participants in the animal value chain, as well as their beliefs surrounding zoonotic disease and occupational risk. Actors in in eight bushmeat markets and two ports in Kinshasa, DRC completed semi-structured interviews between 2016 and 2018 in which they expressed belief in transmission of illness from domestic animals to humans, but not from wild animals to humans. Wild animals were viewed as pure and natural, in contrast to domestic animals which were considered tainted by human interference. Participants reported cutting themselves during the process of butchering yet did not consider butchering bushmeat to be a risky activity. Instead, they adopted safety practices learned over time from butchering experts and taught themselves how to butcher in a fashion that reduced the frequency of cutting. In general, butcherers rejected the idea of personal protective equipment use. Port markets were identified as important access points for meat coming from the Congo river and plane transport was identified as important for fresh and live meat coming from Équateur province. Most participants reported having heard about Ebola, but their mistrust in government messaging privileged a word-of-mouth story of witchcraft to be propagated about Ebola’s origins. It is critical to better understand how public health messaging about outbreaks can successfully reach high risk communities, and to develop creative risk mitigation strategies for populations in regular contact with animal blood and body fluids. In this paper, we offer suggestions for formal and informal trusted channels through which health messages surrounding zoonotic risk could be conveyed to high-risk populations in Kinshasa.

Human-animal entanglements in bushmeat trading in Sierra Leone: An ethnographic assessment of a potential zoonotic interface

“…Much of the literature we have reviewed is quantitative in design. Our insights extend the few contributions that have taken a more open or ethnographic approach to these issues [ 6 , 12 , 19 ] to explore who is involved in the different stages in the preparation and sale of meat including customers, other market vendors, and passers-by; what kinds of activities within the market might put different people at risk; what risk-mitigation strategies sellers, butchers and consumers may already be involved in; the level of existing public health regulation and enforcement; how enforcement takes place in practice; and the different ways that people respond to public health regulations.…”

“…Across the region, bushmeat is often valued as a tasty and culturally important delicacy, but also as a healthy, nutritionally beneficial food [ 5 , 8 , 11 , 12 ]. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), wild animals are commonly viewed as ‘pure’ and ‘natural’, unlike domestic animals which have been ‘tarnished’ by human interference [ 19 ]. Given these positive associations, traders and butchers may not believe that live animals or animal meat can transmit diseases to humans, or that they are themselves at elevated risk for illness [ 6 ].…”

“…In the DRC, many butchers wear clothes for market work that are kept separate from home clothes, but PPE such as gloves, masks, and boots are rarely used by bushmeat vendors or butchers [ 23 ]. Mistrust in government messaging may preclude belief in zoonotic risk and the uptake of risk mitigation strategies [ 19 ]. Interestingly, those who do perceive contact with wildlife to be risky do not always attempt to mitigate that risk.…”

Vendors’ perceptions on the bushmeat trade dynamics across West Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic: lessons learned on sanitary measures and awareness campaigns

“…We observed contrasting patterns in gender distribution among bushmeat vendors, from women being highly dominant in Côte d'Ivoire (and dominant in Cameroon, in line with Randolph et al 2022) to men being preponderant in Benin. Mixed or female-biased gender contributions have largely been reported across West and central Africa (e.g., Kamins et al 2015;Lucas et al 2022), whereas malebiased distribution may be a particularity of Benin, where the wildlife trade is dominated by traditional medicine markets rooted into the Vodun practices (Zanvo et al 2021a). Gendered structures could be important to consider in the bushmeat trade dynamics as, together with ethnic group selection, they may lead to differentiated responses to a same constraint.…”

“…Responses of markets to governmental measures may depend on the zeal of each country to enforce such measures, market operation, and local perceptions on the costs related to sanitary measures and risks. Sanitary risks related to bushmeat processing and consumption generally being poorly perceived in West and central Africa (Subramanian 2012;Saylors et al 2021;Lucas et al 2022), even since the COVID-19 pandemic (Alhaji et al 2022).…”