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.

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.

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... L’utilisation ethnomédicinale du vautour par les tradipraticiens au GhanaLe vautour constitue un ingrédient important utilisé par les praticiens de la médecine traditionnelle pour la préparation de médicaments. Le but de cette étude était de déterminer les parties du corps du vautour qu’utilisent les tradipraticiens au Ghana pour soigner les maladies humaines. Les données sur les parties du corps du vautour utilisées et les maladies que celles-ci soignent ont été recueillies auprès de 28 tradipraticiens au moyen d’un questionnaire semi-structuré. La tête, le cerveau, les griffes, le bec, les os et les plumes ont été identifiés comme les parties du corps du vautour utilisées à des fins médicinales traditionnelles. Sur la base des fréquences d’utilisation et des ratios de concordance entre informateurs, il apparait que la tête du vautour est la partie du corps la plus importante du point de vue culturel pour traiter les maladies humaines, tandis que les plumes ont le ratio de concordance entre informateurs ...

The construction sector has massive direct and indirect impacts on the environment; as such, improving the environmental performance of the construction industry requires knowledge about the nature of environmental impacts. On-site construction workers get exposed to construction-related environmental impacts, but have received limited research attention on impact identification. This study examined on-site workers’ perspectives on the major environmental impacts of building construction processes. Data was collected from 221 on-site building construction workers using a structured questionnaire. The data was analyzed using a relative importance index (RII) to determine the importance levels of environmental impacts and exploratory factor analysis (EFA) for dimension reduction. The RII revealed that dust generation, noise, vibration, and raw material consumption were the impacts of the highest importance levels of severity. The EFA result showed that local issues were the most influential component. The perceived severity of environmental impacts associated with construction-related activities by on-site construction workers were influenced by their exposure experience. The environmental impacts that directly affect or serve as occupational hazards were ranked as the most severe. This study recommends establishing control measures at construction sites considering the health impact of dust and noise pollution on the well-being of on-site construction workers and the local community.

Background. Employers are required to supply personal protective equipment (PPE) to all employees in Ghana, and employees are required to wear the PPE provided. In Ghana, previous studies on health and safety in the construction industry that touched on PPE use did not explicitly demonstrate the reasons why many workers choose to use or not to use it, though they may be at risk of occupational hazards. The purpose of this study was to determine building construction artisans’ level of access to PPE and the perceived barriers and motivating factors of adherence to its use. The contribution of this study lies in its examination of the perceived barriers and motivating factors underlying adherence and nonadherence to PPE use in the construction industry, particularly building construction, which is yet to be determined in Ghana. Method. Data was collected from 173 frontline building construction workers using a structured questionnaire. The data was analyzed using a two‐way multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) and one‐way analysis of variance (ANOVA) to examine the effects of demographic variables on the perceived barrier and motivating factors of adherence to PPE use. Results. The most common PPE that participants had access to was safety boots/shoes, with their main source being borrowing from colleagues. The majority of participants disagreed with the perceived barriers while agreeing with the motivating factors of adherence to PPE use. The results suggest statistically significant differences for years of working experience (Wilks = 0.77, F = 2.47; p ≤ 0.01) and form of employment (Wilks = 0.72, F = 3.25, p ≤ 0.01) for perceived barriers to adherence. For perceived motivating factors to adherence, significant differences were obtained for age group (Wilks = 0.84, F = 2.42, p ≤ 0.01), years of experience (Wilks = 0.85, F = 2.35, p ≤ 0.01), and form of employment (Wilks = 0.71, F = 5.22, p ≤ 0.01). Conclusion. Age groups, years of experience, and form of employment were the main factors mediating adherence and nonadherence to PPE use by the construction workers. This study recommends safety training for workers if good safety management and performance concerning PPE use are to be achieved.