Indigenous cultural behaviour and contact with exotic animals within the context of zoonotic pathogens in Cameroon remote forest area

Efuet Simon Akem

University of Buea, Cameroon

Biography :

Efuet Simon Akem is a faculty member in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at the University of Buea, Cameroon. His research delves into societal dynamics and cultural phenomena, contributing to academic discourse in sociology and anthropology.

Abstract :

In Cameroon, wild animals such as monkeys, fruit bats, rodents and forest antelopes among others are still being eaten in remote villages and some major cities despite the risks and warnings from the government. Most part of the country is inaccessible, lack of health facilities, lack of electricity, portable water among other basic amenities. In contrast to a strictly biomedical framework, infectious diseases cannot be understood through biology alone but rather must be considered within the context of the cultural and social worlds they inhabit. Some indigenous cultural practices of hunting and trapping behaviours, handling, carrying/transportation, sales of bushmeat, butchering, smoking, slicing, preparation/ cooking, consumption can lead to an increase in zoonotic risk transmission. This study intends to prepare for the future by gaining a detailed ethnographic understanding of local cultural practices of -human-wildlife interactions among indigenous remote forest communities in Cameroon in order to anticipate and develop context specific culturally appropriate mitigating response to disease prevention or outbreak.