Ghana's traditional medicine market thrives amid rising Western drug costs

Ghana's traditional medicine market is thriving as rising prices for Western pharmaceuticals and medical care push Ghanaians toward plant remedies passed down through Indigenous Ga and Twi knowledge.

Dr. Kofi Donkor, deputy director of the Center for Plant Medicine Research, said traditional practitioners treat plant medicine as a profession handed down across generations. The center, created by the Ghanaian government in 1976, uses raw plant material to make natural products and treat patients. Its outpatient clinic sees about 16,000 patients a month.

A 2023 study in Frontiers in Pharmacology found about 60 to 70 percent of Ghanaians depend on traditional medicine markets for care. Donkor said rural residents rely on plants for three reasons: accessibility, cost and familiarity. He added that in rural communities in many developing countries, traditional medicine forms 80 percent of primary health care.

Women in rural areas pick medicinal herbs from the bush and cultivated plots early in the morning, then sell fresh vines, leaves, stems and bark in Accra. Many villagers already know which plants to use and visit a practitioner only for more complicated illness.

“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.” — Dr. Kofi Donkor

Researchers at the center are studying West African plants, including the green shrub croton membranaceous, which has shown promising treatment against prostate cancer. Donkor cautioned that vendors are probably selling the right plants, but dosage matters: a practitioner who prescribes the right amount can make a plant a powerful cure.

As Western drug costs and gas prices rise, the market offers a cheaper, familiar route to care, while scientific validation adds legitimacy to Indigenous plant knowledge.