Wildlife Mortality Monitoring Network for Human and Wildlife Health
Summary
In the Republic of the Congo, a 2005 Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) outbreak had a human mortality rate of more than 80%, and an estimated 5,000 great apes also died. In partnership with the government, WCS set up an early warning system for EVD, working with hunters, forest communities, and rangers to monitor wildlife health through a carcass monitoring and sampling network, whilst promoting best practices in disease risk reduction for these communities that rely on bushmeat as a source of protein. The community-based wildlife mortality monitoring network raises awareness among communities and covers more than 30,000 km2 in in northern Congo, an area home to 60% of the world’s gorillas. When a hunter reports a carcass, a response team travels to the site to safely collect samples from the carcass for testing. Once the sample is collected, it is sent to the national laboratory for analysis and the team returns to the reporting village with results and to reinforce health messages.
Classifications
Region
Scale of implementation
Ecosystem
Theme
Species Conservation and One Health Interventions
One Health
Challenges
Sustainable development goals
Aichi targets
Sendai Framework
Business engagement approach
Challenges
Isolated subsistence communities in the northern Republic of Congo often lack access to health care and health education. Subsistence hunting is critical for food security but is increasingly threatened by commercial wildlife trade to urban and peri-urban communities. A wildlife carcass can seem like a great opportunity for food. However, these carcasses can pose significant health threats, in particular, in this region, from Ebola virus which is often deadly for both great apes and humans. This network first builds trust with local hunting communities, increases awareness of health threats, and encourages participation in an early warning system, expanding wildlife mortality monitoring across thousands of kilometers of key great ape habitat. The introduction of rapid carcass-side testing brings results to the community immediately, aiding in their engagement and ability to implement protective measures when needed.
Beneficiaries
- Local communities
- People connected through trade and travel networks with local communities: disease outbreaks spread, as has been witnessed in prior Ebola virus disease outbreaks
- Great Apes
- Wildlife conservation
Building blocks
How do the building blocks interact?
Developing effective wildlife surveillance and response networks for One Health requires engagement with local communities on the frontlines and communication, trust, network, coordination, and multi-sectoral capacity building from local to national levels.
Impacts
In the last 10 years, hunters from more than 260 villages have engaged in the program. Over 6,660 hunters and thousands more women and children are now aware of potential risks associated with coming into contact with dead animals where cause of death is unknown. Almost 100 carcasses have been reported, analyzed, and tested negative for the Ebola virus at the national laboratory in Brazzaville, and over 40 people in Northern Congo have been trained on the sampling protocol. Central Africa remains a high-risk region, but the Republic of the Congo, home to the largest population of gorillas, has not experienced an Ebola epidemic since 2005. Moreover, return visits and conversations with village leaders reveal risky contacts with wildlife carcasses are being avoided and reduced. Efficient sample analysis is an essential step to effective zoonoses monitoring and response. Analysis once took several weeks and needed to be done in a different country. This was reduced to two days with in-country Ebola testing capacity thanks to efforts of multiple partners. WCS is currently working on the implementation of a portable diagnostic tool that would allow real-time testing directly at the site where a carcass is found, reducing testing time from two days to one hour, allowing safety measures to be immediately implemented in the event of a positive result.
Contributed by
Log in or register to post comments.