ArticlePloS one2015
Knowledge and uses of African pangolins as a source of traditional medicine in Ghana.
Article in PloS one, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 14 papers.
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Who cites it
14 citing papers in PubMed, 100 citations in OpenAlex.
- Under the scales: Identification of ticks in rehabilitated African pangolins and confiscated scales.International journal for parasitology. Parasites and wildlife · 2025Article
- Animals traded for traditional medicine in Ghana: their zootherapeutic uses and implications for biodiversity conservation.Journal of ethnobiology and ethnomedicine · 2025Article
- Exploring Knowledge about Fang Traditional Medicine: An Informal Health Seeking Behaviour for Medical or Cultural Afflictions in Equatorial Guinea.Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland) · 2023Article
- Understanding the policy dynamics of COVID-19 vaccination in Ghana through the lens of a policy analytical framework.Health research policy and systems · 2022Review
- Zootherapy as a potential pathway for zoonotic spillover: a mixed-methods study of the use of animal products in medicinal and cultural practices in Nigeria.One health outlook · 2022Article
- Detection of a novelFrontiers in microbiology · 2022Article
- A Review on Medicinal Plants Used in the Management of Headache in Africa.Plants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2021Review
- Ethnozoological and commercial drivers of the pangolin trade in Benin.Journal of ethnobiology and ethnomedicine · 2021Article
- Assessment of essential and non-essential elements in selected traditional medicines from India, Ghana and China.Environmental science and pollution research international · 2021Article
- Baby pangolins on my plate: possible lessons to learn from the COVID-19 pandemic.Journal of ethnobiology and ethnomedicine · 2020Article
- A method for rapid assessment of the distribution and conservation status of Indian pangolin (MethodsX · 2020Article
- An ethnopharmacological study of aromatic Uyghur medicinal plants in Xinjiang, China.Pharmaceutical biology · 2017Article
- Mitochondrial genomes of African pangolins and insights into evolutionary patterns and phylogeny of the family Manidae.BMC genomics · 2017Article
- The Traditional Medicine and Modern Medicine from Natural Products.Molecules (Basel, Switzerland) · 2016Review
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Traditional medicine has been practised in Ghana for centuries with the majority of Ghanaians still patronising the services of traditional healers. Throughout Africa a large number of people use pangolins as a source of traditional medicine, however, there is a dearth of information on the use of animals in folk medicine in Ghana, in particular the use of pangolins. The aim of this study was to determine the prevalent use of pangolins and the level of knowledge of pangolin use among traditional healers in Ghana for the treatment of human ailments. Data was gathered from 48 traditional healers using semi-structured interviews on the traditional medicinal use of pangolin body parts in the Kumasi metropolis of Ghana. The cultural importance index, relative frequency of citation, informant agreement ratio and use agreement values were calculated to ascertain the most culturally important pangolin body part as well as the level of knowledge dissemination among traditional healers with regards pangolin body parts. Our study revealed that 13 body parts of pangolins are used to treat various medicinal ailments. Pangolin scales and bones were the most prevalent prescribed body parts and indicated the highest cultural significance among traditional healing practices primarily for the treatment of spiritual protection, rheumatism, financial rituals and convulsions. Despite being classified under Schedule 1 of Ghana's Wildlife Conservation Act of 1971 (LI 685), that prohibits anyone from hunting or being in possession of a pangolin, our results indicated that the use of pangolins for traditional medicinal purposes is widespread among traditional healers in Ghana. A study on the population status and ecology of the three species of African pangolins occurring in Ghana is urgently required in order to determine the impact this harvest for traditional medical purposes has on their respective populations as current levels appear to be unmonitored and unsustainable.
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