Asked by: Graham Stuart (Conservative - Beverley and Holderness)
Question to the Department for International Development:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Development, what steps her Department is taking to raise awareness of the dangers of eating bushmeat in those countries where it is currently practised.
Answered by Baroness Featherstone
The UK is supporting the Social Mobilisation Action Consortium (SMAC) as part of its response to Ebola in Sierra Leone. This consortium focuses on achieving behaviour change to address a range of high risk practices to prevent and contain the spread of Ebola. Partners of the consortium, who include the Centre for Disease Control, provide technical advice on how to avoid infection. As well as avoiding contact with blood and bodily fluids of an infected person and ensuring safe funeral practices, this includes taking steps not to eat or handle bushmeat. We are also tracking knowledge of risk behaviours and transmission routes through a survey administered through the consortium in order to plan our behaviour change activities accordingly.