‘Protect Wildlife to Reduce Risks of another Pandemic’
FILE PHOTO: A logo of the World Health Organization (WHO), is seen before a news conference in Geneva, Switzerland, June 25, 2020. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo
Sunday Okobi
As the world marks World Zoonoses Day, the Wild Africa Fund has called for urgent actions to curb illegal wildlife trade, deforestation and climate change to reduce the risk of future disease transmissions from animals.
The Fund said Africa faces a growing risk as it grapples with population growth, rapid urbanisation, deforestation and the commercial ‘bush meat’ trade.
There has been a 63 per cent increase in the number of zoonotic outbreaks, such as Ebola and Monkey pox diseases in the region from 2012 to 2022 compared to the previous decade (2001 to 2011), according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Across the globe, over 60 per cent of human infectious diseases are believed to be spread by deadly germs found in animals. Before COVID-19, in the last two decades, zoonotic diseases had caused economic losses of more than $100 billion, according to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP).
The organisation in a statement said: “Zoonotic diseases such as COVID-19, Ebola, Anthrax, Yellow fever, Marburg virus, and Monkey pox (Mpox) are increasingly common throughout Africa and around the world. Scientists say there are about 700,000 unknown zoonotic diseases that can potentially jump from animals and infect humans.”
The statement quoted the Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Wild Africa Fund, Peter Knights, as saying: “We must defuse this ticking bomb by moving urban consumers away from illegal bush meat through education and enforcing laws and preserving what wildlife habitat remains. At the same time, we must develop alternative sources of income and protein for those that hunt for game.
“In the last 12 months, several infectious disease outbreaks have been recorded in Africa and across the world, including these major zoonotic disease outbreaks.
“The recent outbreaks of anthrax, monkey pox (now known as Mpox) and Marburg virus in some parts of Africa as well as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic serve as a reminder that zoonotic diseases continue to pose a significant threat to our health, economies and global security.
“The Nigerian Government recently issued an advisory warning to citizens to desist from consuming bush meat in the immediate aftermath of the outbreak of anthrax believed to have spread from animals in northern Ghana.”
It added: “Wild Africa Fund is running an awareness campaign using the conventional and social media to inform the people across Africa that the health of humans, animals and the environment is highly interconnected and we must protect wildlife to protect ourselves. ‘Keep them wild, keep us safe!’”
Also, a veterinarian and spokesperson of Wild Africa Fund Nigerian, Dr. Mark Ofua, said: “As a notable hub for trafficking of illegal wildlife, Nigeria cannot afford to be the epicentre of the next pandemic, disastrous in terms of human health and economically. We must quickly pass the new wildlife law introduced before the election; increase our enforcement and awareness efforts to stop illegal bush meat trade to mitigate the spread of zoonotic diseases and to protect our environment.
“If you don’t know what’s out there, you’re destroying that ecosystem, and you’re creating that pathogenicity for humans to encroach into animals’ space to cut down trees and destroy their environment, and come into contact with wildlife. If the human population is not used to any particular pathogen, it will have no immunity, which now creates an opportunity for it to spread quickly among the human population.”
