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Maxwell K Boakye
Department of Environmental Science, Ho Technical University, Ho VH, Ghana

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Journal article
Published: 13 June 2021 in Conservation
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The Kumasi Central Market is the largest urban open market in Ghana and animals used for medicinal purposes are among the items that are typically displayed for sale. However, no study has been undertaken on the animal species sold for traditional medicine purposes. This study took inventory of animal species traded for medicinal purposes in the Kumasi Central Market and examined their conservation implications. The species recorded to be traded comprised 5 taxonomic classes, belonging to 20 families. Chameleons were found to be the most traded animal species. Seven (23%) of the species traded were found to be threatened under IUCN Red List, with four (13%) species listed on Appendix I of CITES, and eight (26%) species on Schedule I of Wildlife Conservation Regulations of Ghana. Wildlife regulations are not serving as a deterrent to the trade in threatened animal species. There is a need to sensitize traders about the threats faced by these animal species and provide explanations as to why these species should be protected.

ACS Style

Maxwell Boakye; Alfred Agyemang; Edward Wiafe; Hubert Dossou-Yovo; Meyir Ziekah. Animals Traded for Traditional Medicine Purposes in the Kumasi Central Market, Ghana: Conservation Implications. Conservation 2021, 1, 113 -120.

AMA Style

Maxwell Boakye, Alfred Agyemang, Edward Wiafe, Hubert Dossou-Yovo, Meyir Ziekah. Animals Traded for Traditional Medicine Purposes in the Kumasi Central Market, Ghana: Conservation Implications. Conservation. 2021; 1 (2):113-120.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Maxwell Boakye; Alfred Agyemang; Edward Wiafe; Hubert Dossou-Yovo; Meyir Ziekah. 2021. "Animals Traded for Traditional Medicine Purposes in the Kumasi Central Market, Ghana: Conservation Implications." Conservation 1, no. 2: 113-120.

Journal article
Published: 04 May 2019 in Ostrich
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Vultures form an important ingredient used by traditional medicinal practitioners for the preparation of their therapeutic remedies. The aim of this study was to determine the vulture body parts used for alleviating human ailments by traditional medicinal practitioners in Ghana. Data on the vulture body parts used and human ailments used to alleviate were collected from 28 traditional medicinal practitioners using semi-structured questionnaires. The vulture head, brain, claw, beak, bones and feathers were identified as the body parts used for traditional medicinal purposes. Use values and informant agreement ratio were calculated; the vulture head was found to be the most culturally important body part for treating human ailments, while the feathers had the highest informant agreement ratio. Human ailments that vulture body parts were used to treat include rheumatism, headache, bedwetting and diabetes, while protection against witchcraft was the main spiritual ailment that vulture body parts were used for. This study revealed the high cultural importance of vultures to traditional medicinal practitioners in Ghana. Vulture body parts were particularly important for spiritual ailments that have no orthodox treatment.

ACS Style

Maxwell K Boakye; Edward D Wiafe; Meyir Y Ziekah. Ethnomedicinal use of vultures by traditional medicinal practitioners in Ghana. Ostrich 2019, 90, 111 -118.

AMA Style

Maxwell K Boakye, Edward D Wiafe, Meyir Y Ziekah. Ethnomedicinal use of vultures by traditional medicinal practitioners in Ghana. Ostrich. 2019; 90 (2):111-118.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Maxwell K Boakye; Edward D Wiafe; Meyir Y Ziekah. 2019. "Ethnomedicinal use of vultures by traditional medicinal practitioners in Ghana." Ostrich 90, no. 2: 111-118.

Journal article
Published: 19 October 2018 in Ethnobiology and Conservation
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ACS Style

Maxwell Kwame Boakye. Influence of ethnicity on cultural use of pangolins in Ghana and its implications on their conservation. Ethnobiology and Conservation 2018, 7, 1 .

AMA Style

Maxwell Kwame Boakye. Influence of ethnicity on cultural use of pangolins in Ghana and its implications on their conservation. Ethnobiology and Conservation. 2018; 7 ():1.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Maxwell Kwame Boakye. 2018. "Influence of ethnicity on cultural use of pangolins in Ghana and its implications on their conservation." Ethnobiology and Conservation 7, no. : 1.

Research article
Published: 16 August 2018 in Society & Animals
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Pangolins are elusive and threatened mammals, considered the most widely traded mammals on Earth supplying local African and Asian traditional medicine markets. African pangolins are sourced as bushmeat and perceived to cure diverse ailments when body parts are used in traditional medicine practices. Currently, there is no documentation on cultural uses of Temminck’s ground pangolin throughout this mammal’s distribution range in South Africa. We interviewed 344 community members from seven indigenous tribal communities in four provinces overlapping with the distribution of Smutsia temminckii in South Africa; only 191 respondents (55.5%) had any knowledge of the species, its cultural and/or medicinal uses. Pangolin is highly sought after and held in high regard where this mammal’s body parts, particularly scales, blood and fat, are utilized traditionally for treating various physical ailments and spiritual remedies in rural South African communities. This utilization undoubtedly has a significant impact on the population of this threatened species.

ACS Style

Abimbola O. Baiyewu; Maxwell K. Boakye; Antoinette Kotzé; Desiré L. Dalton; Raymond Jansen. Ethnozoological Survey of Traditional Uses of Temminck’s Ground Pangolin (Smutsia temminckii) in South Africa. Society & Animals 2018, 26, 306 -325.

AMA Style

Abimbola O. Baiyewu, Maxwell K. Boakye, Antoinette Kotzé, Desiré L. Dalton, Raymond Jansen. Ethnozoological Survey of Traditional Uses of Temminck’s Ground Pangolin (Smutsia temminckii) in South Africa. Society & Animals. 2018; 26 (3):306-325.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Abimbola O. Baiyewu; Maxwell K. Boakye; Antoinette Kotzé; Desiré L. Dalton; Raymond Jansen. 2018. "Ethnozoological Survey of Traditional Uses of Temminck’s Ground Pangolin (Smutsia temminckii) in South Africa." Society & Animals 26, no. 3: 306-325.

Journal article
Published: 28 January 2016 in Human Ecology
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Pangolins (Pholidota: Manidae) are frequently hunted as a source of bushmeat in Ghana. However, no information exists with regards to the level of trade of pangolins outside of major bushmeat market surveys in Ghana. The aim of this study was to determine the level of trade among other stakeholders in the bushmeat commodity chain for pangolins in Ghana. Data were collected from 153 stakeholders using semi-structured interviews and direct observation between September 2013 and January 2014. A total of 341 pangolins were recorded to have been traded in this study period. The white-bellied pangolin (Phataginus tricuspis) represented 82 % and the black-bellied pangolin (Phataginus tetradactyla) 18 % of the observed pangolins traded by the stakeholders. Chopbar operators accounted for the highest retailer sales to consumers. The number of pangolins traded was negatively correlated to the distance between settlements and protected forest regions. The levels of pangolin trade were previously underestimated in Ghana as the pangolin bushmeat commodity chain does not form the supply chain to the major bushmeat markets where most surveys were undertaken. The Wildlife Conservation Act of 1971 (LI 685) that prohibits the hunting of pangolins can be regarded as ineffective and not serving as a deterrent to poaching.

ACS Style

Maxwell Kwame Boakye; Antoinette Kotzé; Desire Lee Dalton; Raymond Jansen. Unravelling the Pangolin Bushmeat Commodity Chain and the Extent of Trade in Ghana. Human Ecology 2016, 44, 257 -264.

AMA Style

Maxwell Kwame Boakye, Antoinette Kotzé, Desire Lee Dalton, Raymond Jansen. Unravelling the Pangolin Bushmeat Commodity Chain and the Extent of Trade in Ghana. Human Ecology. 2016; 44 (2):257-264.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Maxwell Kwame Boakye; Antoinette Kotzé; Desire Lee Dalton; Raymond Jansen. 2016. "Unravelling the Pangolin Bushmeat Commodity Chain and the Extent of Trade in Ghana." Human Ecology 44, no. 2: 257-264.

Research article
Published: 20 January 2015 in PLOS ONE
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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.

ACS Style

Maxwell Kwame Boakye; Darren William Pietersen; Antoinette Kotzé; Desire Lee Dalton; Raymond Jansen. Knowledge and Uses of African Pangolins as a Source of Traditional Medicine in Ghana. PLOS ONE 2015, 10, e0117199 -e0117199.

AMA Style

Maxwell Kwame Boakye, Darren William Pietersen, Antoinette Kotzé, Desire Lee Dalton, Raymond Jansen. Knowledge and Uses of African Pangolins as a Source of Traditional Medicine in Ghana. PLOS ONE. 2015; 10 (1):e0117199-e0117199.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Maxwell Kwame Boakye; Darren William Pietersen; Antoinette Kotzé; Desire Lee Dalton; Raymond Jansen. 2015. "Knowledge and Uses of African Pangolins as a Source of Traditional Medicine in Ghana." PLOS ONE 10, no. 1: e0117199-e0117199.

Journal article
Published: 01 January 2014 in Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine
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Pangolins (Manidae) have long been used for traditional medicinal purposes in most parts of sub-Saharan Africa. However, very little is known about the extent of this use, the body parts that are used and the ailments these practices are attempting to cure or alleviate. Pangolin body parts are used extensively and frequently by traditional medical practitioners in Sierra Leone. A total of 63 traditional medical practitioners consented and were interviewed using semi-structured questionnaires on the traditional medicinal use of pangolin body parts. The use value, informant agreement ratio and use agreement value for each pangolin part was calculated to ascertain the most sought after body part, the level of knowledge dissemination among traditional medical practitioners about body parts and the most culturally significant body part. It was found that 22 pangolin parts are used to treat various ailments and conditions under 17 international categories of diseases. The highest use value was recorded for scales while eyes had the highest level of consensus among the traditional medical practitioners. The highest use value and informant agreement ratio for scales were recorded for spiritual ailments. Scales were the most culturally significant body part according to the use agreement value. This study indicates a high importance value for pangolins as part of these communities' spiritual, cultural and medicinal beliefs. However, the numbers of individuals harvested from the wild remains unknown and unregulated even though pangolins have been listed under Schedule 2 of the Wildlife Conservation Act, 1972, of Sierra Leone, which prohibits any person from hunting or being in possession of pangolins. It is likely that this unregulated harvesting and poaching of this threatened species, for medicinal purposes, is unsustainable and there is an urgent need to determine pangolin population abundance within this region to ensure their sustainable harvesting for cultural use and conservation.

ACS Style

Maxwell K Boakye; Darren W Pietersen; Antoinette Kotze; Desire L Dalton; Raymond Jansen. Ethnomedicinal use of African pangolins by traditional medical practitioners in Sierra Leone. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 2014, 10, 76 .

AMA Style

Maxwell K Boakye, Darren W Pietersen, Antoinette Kotze, Desire L Dalton, Raymond Jansen. Ethnomedicinal use of African pangolins by traditional medical practitioners in Sierra Leone. Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine. 2014; 10 (1):76.

Chicago/Turabian Style

Maxwell K Boakye; Darren W Pietersen; Antoinette Kotze; Desire L Dalton; Raymond Jansen. 2014. "Ethnomedicinal use of African pangolins by traditional medical practitioners in Sierra Leone." Journal of Ethnobiology and Ethnomedicine 10, no. 1: 76.