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Human Health and Conservation of Biodiversity:
Impacts of Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT) in
the Fontem Focus, South West Region of Cameroon
Awungia Tegomo Alain
University of Dschang, Cameroon
Email for correspondence:mcleot87@yahoo.com
Abstract
Human African Trypanosomiasis (HAT) is a vector borne
disease transmitted to humans and animals by tsetse
flies. HAT is a disease essentially linked to man and to
his behaviour, particularly to cultural activities, mode of
habitation, means of getting food, water and mobility. In
Cameroon, domestic and wild fauna have been looked
upon as a probable animal reservoir for Trypanosoma
bruceigambiense –the causative agent of HAT; and pigs
have been identified as one of the domestic animals
serving as reservoir. The “Fontem sleeping sickness
focus” in the South West region of Cameroon has been
identified as a main transmission zone of HAT. This
study therefore aims at examining the interrelation
between human health and well-being, and biodiversity
conservation in the Fontem focus. Questionnaire was
used to collect information from 1000 respondents
living in the Fontem focus. Parasitological diagnosis of
subject’s blood was done to know their trypanosomiasis
statutes. The prevalence of HAT ranged between 0%
and 2% among the respondents involved in
development projects. About 90% of the respondents
had knowledge of sleeping sickness and had been bitten
by the tsetse fly, and 80% were farmers and keep either
pigs, sheep or goats. Emerging human and domestic
livestock pathogen might constitute a risk to community
development projects, human health and well-being;
these might have direct impacts to biodiversity
conservation in Africa especially in local communities.
The synergy in disciplines in today’s fight for
conservation is primordial for the success of biodiversity
conservation in Africa and the world at large.
Keywords: Health, Zoonosis, Vector, Focus, Prevalence
Prediction of Environmental Behaviour in Kilombero
Valley Wetlands Tanzania
1 *Felister Mombo, 2 Zuzanna Pieniak , 2 Valerie
Vandermeulen, 2 Wim Verbeke and Guido van
2 Huylenbroeck
1 Department of Forest Economics, Faculty of Forestry
and Nature conservation, Sokoine University of
Agriculture, 3011 Morogoro, Tanzania
2 Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of
Bioscience Engineering, Gent University, Coupure Links
653, Gent, Belgium
*Email for correspondence: fmombo@yahoo.com
Abstract
Although many studies assess environmental attitudes,
those focusing on African regions or countries using the
New Environmental Paradigm (NEP) scale are very
limited. This study used the NEP as a scale to assess the
attitudes of the Kilombero Valley Wetlands stakeholders
towards the principles of sustainable management. In
addition the study simultaneously (using structural
equation model) analysed the influence of stakeholders’
knowledge of the rules concerned with sustainable
wetlands management, and their level of awareness and
attitudes, on their conservation behaviour. The overall
attitude score was calculated by taking the average of
all the responses. This resulted into a mean of 3.19 and
a standard deviation of 1.25. This can be regarded as a
moderately positive attitude towards environmental
issues (3.19 out of a possible 5), while the relatively
large standard deviation indicates much variability
among the participants. The hypothesised model, which
relates attitudes with awareness and knowledge,
performed well. The χ² for the model was 199.21 with
113 degrees of freedom (p