President of the Ghana Federation of Traditional Medicine Practitioners Associations, Samuel Ato Duncan, is urging government to pay serious attention to the traditional medicine sector, describing it as a major untapped economic resource.
Speaking at the launch of a book on African traditional medicine in Accra, he said the sector could generate not less than 10 billion dollars annually if properly developed and supported.
According to him, this can be achieved without the environmental destruction associated with illegal mining, which continues to degrade land and pollute water bodies across the country.
He warned that the long-term impact of such environmental damage could be severe, stressing that investment in herbal medicine presents a more sustainable and less harmful alternative.
Prof. Ato Duncan added that traditional medicine goes beyond the remedies people consume, pointing to the wider value of natural resources such as trees and plants that support both health and the environment.
Meanwhile, author of the book, Nana Kwadwo Obiri, raised concern about the gradual loss of indigenous knowledge.
He said traditional medicine practices are going extinct due to poor documentation and limited efforts to preserve them.
According to him, the book seeks to bridge that gap by documenting knowledge that has largely been passed down orally over generations.
The event brought together practitioners, health advocates and stakeholders, as calls grow for greater recognition and integration of traditional medicine into Ghana’s broader health and economic development agenda.
