Protecting great apes from disease: Compliance with measures to reduce anthroponotic disease transmission

People and Nature

article

Ana Nuno¹  Chloe Chesney²  Maia Wellbelove²  Elena Bersacola²  Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka³  Fabian Leendertz⁴  Amanda D. Webber⁶  Kimberley J. Hockings² 

[1] Interdisciplinary Centre of Social Sciences ,(CICS.NOVA), School of Social Sciences and Humanities ,(NOVA FCSH), NOVA University Lisbon;Centre for Ecology and Conservation, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of Exeter;Conservation Through Public Health;Project Group Epidemiology of Highly Pathogenic Microorganisms, Robert Koch Institute;Helmholtz Institute for One Health;Bristol Zoological Society;Centre for Water, Communities and Resilience, University of the West of England

关键词: African tourism;    disease mitigation regulations;    infectious disease;    nature-based tourism;    pandemic;    primate conservation;    SARS-CoV-2;    zoonoses;   

DOI  :  10.1002/pan3.10396

学科分类：护理学

来源: Wiley

【 摘 要 】

1. The emergence of infectious diseases, such as COVID-19, impacts livelihoodstrategies and conservation tools reliant on human-wildlife interactions, suchas wildlife-based tourism and research. This is particularly relevant to great apeconservation, as humans and great apes are susceptible to being infected bysimilar pathogens.2. Evidence-based strategies are required to prevent infectious disease transmission to great apes and people involved in, or living close to, tourism sites. Thedevelopment of disease-safe recommendations and their effective operationalisation require an understanding of what affects visitor compliance.3. Based on an international sample of past (N = 420) and potential future visitors(N = 569) to wild great ape tourism sites in Africa, we used an online questionnaire to characterise visitors' practices, assess expectations (e.g. about proximity to great apes) and identify key factors related to potential compliance withdisease mitigation measures. This was implemented adapting a framework fromhealth literature (the Health Belief Model; HBM), particularly focused on reducing COVID-19 transmission at an early stage of the pandemic.4. Visitors expressed less willingness to being vaccinated against COVID-19 (which,at the time our survey was conducted, had only just started being administeredto very high-risk groups), wearing a facemask during trekking (although willingwhen viewing the apes) and quarantine after international travel before visitinggreat apes. Region of nationality, expectations about the visitor experience andperceived effectiveness of specific measures were important factors explainingvariation in potential compliance across multiple behaviours.

【 授权许可】

CC BY