In Ghana, a growing number of people are turning to plant-based remedies passed down through generations, as the cost of Western pharmaceuticals and medical care rises.
The traditional medicine market is thriving, with vendors in Accra’s open-air markets selling fresh vines, leaves, stems, and bark harvested from rural bushlands and cultivated plots.
Dr. Kofi Donkor, deputy director of the Center for Plant Medicine Research, explained in an interview with Global Voices that for many practitioners, this is a profession inherited over generations.
“They know how to use plants properly,” he said, adding that researchers rely on practitioners as their primary source of botanical knowledge, which they then try to validate using scientific methods.
Plant-based medicine is a big business in Ghana
The Center for Plant Medicine Research, established by the Ghanaian government in 1976, processes raw plant material into natural products and runs an outpatient clinic that sees roughly 16,000 patients a month.
According to a 2023 study in Frontiers in Pharmacology, about 60 to 70 percent of Ghana’s population depends on traditional medicine markets for their medical care.
Donkor attributes this reliance to three factors: accessibility, cost, and familiarity. In rural communities, he noted, traditional medicine often forms 80 percent of primary health care, contributing significantly to universal health coverage goals.
Many villagers live close to forests and already know which plants treat common ailments like malaria or typhoid, sometimes bypassing practitioners altogether.
“You just go to your backyard and you know this herb is for malaria, this herb is for typhoid, this herb improves your hemoglobin levels, and you just pluck some, you boil, and you drink,” Donkor said.
Ongoing research on West African plants
Researchers at the center are currently studying a range of West African plants for their medicinal potential, including a green shrub called croton membranaceous, which has shown promising results against prostate cancer.
Donkor cautioned that while market vendors likely sell the correct plants, dosage is critical—proper amounts prescribed by knowledgeable practitioners can be powerful cures.
The video above features Patience, a plant healer in Accra who treats friends and family for illnesses such as malaria, yeast infections, and colds.
She demonstrates how the mother-in-law tongue plant (Dracaena trifasciata) can be prepared as a cold tea bath, which she says calms anxiety and promotes sleep.
She also notes that keeping the plant by the door is believed to ward off bad people.
As Western drug and gas prices continue to climb across West Africa, the traditional medicine market offers a sustainable source of natural healing, supported by scientific research that validates Indigenous knowledge.
Source: Global Voices