Wa, Jan 21, GNA - The Northern Savannah Biodiversity Conservation Project, with funding from the World Bank, has embarked on a programme to empower traditional healers to come out with more potent and well packaged drugs to instil confidence in their preparations. The healers are also supported to acquire land to cultivate medicinal tree species so as to have constant supply of raw materials and to sell part of it to others.
Mr. Thomas Kpaamah Kapiri, Social Specialist of the project, told the Ghana News Agency that the project had registered about 500 traditional healers and they undergo periodic training.
He said the project, with the support of Environmental Protection Agency, protected tree species in Fian, Wogu, Naro, Loggu and Issa. Mr. Kapiri said most people in the region had no confidence in traditional medicine chiefly because of poor packaging, bad exposure and lack of specificity and that his outfit was working to correct it to inject public confidence in it.
He said the programme would, from time to time, send the products of the healers for scientific testing to ensure that whatever was sold to the public was wholesome and effective.
Plans are also advanced to link the traditional healers to health centers in the region should their preparations prove good enough to cure common diseases in the region.
Mr Kapiri commended the National Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) and the Ghana Health Service for their support and called for collaboration from other stakeholders to ensure effective traditional medicine in the country. 21 Jan 07
