The rate of harvest is further increased by the high CI of pangolin body parts for ailments that have been found to be medically or socially prevalent in Ghana. In the semi-structured interviews, the THs (interviewees) were requested to name the parts of pangolins used as medicine, the ailments for which that body part was prescribed and how the animals were obtained.

It is therefore proposed that pangolins have been utilised for some time as a constant and frequent source of traditional medicine and it plays a large culturally important role in Ghanaian traditional pharmacopoeia.

The pangolin heart had a very low index value and was occasionally used to prevent miscarriage in Ghana although Akpona et al. Conceived and designed the experiments: MB DWP DLD AK RJ. Based on the CI, IAR and UAV indices, where pangolin body parts are used to treat ailments by traditional healers, this study has found that the use of pangolins in local community pharmacopoeia is quite common. Four quantitative value indices were calculated to establish the frequency of use of pangolins or their body parts in TM, as well as the consensus of use body parts among THs: cultural importance index (CI), relative frequency of citation (RFC), informant agreement ratio (IAR), and use agreement value (UAV).

World Wildlife Fund Inc. is a nonprofit, tax-exempt charitable organization (tax ID number 52-1693387) under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. Theoretically, the RFC varies from 0 (when no respondents refer to the body part as useful) to 1 (if all the TMPs made use of a particular body part) [29].

Funding: The authors are grateful to the Tshwane University of Technology (www.tut.ac.za), National Zoological Gardens of South Africa (www.nzg.ac.za) and the Rufford Foundation (www.rufford.org) (RSG reference: 13600-1) for funding this project. Demand is being met by trafficking from across Africa and Asia; the vast majority of pangolin scale shipments seized from illegal trade are ultimately bound for China. “The Government claims the pangolin scales used in medicines come from a national stockpile – but it is a stockpile shrouded in secrecy and never seems to run out. But there is still growing international illegal trade in pangolins. View our inclusive approach to conservation. : spiritual ailments, rheumatism, infertility), NC is the total number of different categories of use (of each ‘i’ body part), UR is the total number of use-reports for each body part (corresponding in the present study to ‘citations’, as defined above) and N is the total number of informants. Yes

Caption: Examples of patent pangolin scale products identified by EIA as being advertised online by pharmaceutical companies in China (“pangolin” circled in red in ingredient listing).

Scales had the highest IAR, followed by the head, bones and meat (Table 4). This use of pangolins to treat folk illnesses, such as protection against witchcraft, spiritual protection and the courting of ladies, can be considered an additional threat to the level of harvesting of pangolins in Ghana as these illnesses are considered to be intrinsic to the Ghanaian cultural concepts of health and illness [5, 42]. The heart and limbs had the lowest UR (1).

Demand is being met by trafficking from across Africa and Asia; the vast majority of pangolin scale shipments seized from illegal trade are ultimately bound for China. This study was approved by the ethics committee of the Tshwane University of Technology (REC Ref #: REC2013/05/008) and written informed consent was obtained from all participants interviewed. The Informant Agreement Ratio (IAR) was used to measure the consensus level for treating a particular ailment making use of a particular pangolin body part amongst THs.
The Journal of Chinese Medicine prescribes pangolin scales for promoting menstruation and lactation, reducing swelling, draining abscesses and for … Spiritual ailments had the highest use reported (UR) followed (in descending order) by rheumatism, infertility, financial rituals and convulsions (Table 2). In Asia, we work to reduce consumer demand for illegal wildlife products with campaigns and partnerships with governments and businesses. In traditional Chinese medicine, the scales are prescribed to treat a variety of conditions. Ethnozoological data on medicinal use of pangolins was collected between September 2013 and January 2014 using semi-structured interviews. All eight pangolin species are protected under national and international laws.

Traditional medicine has been practised in Ghana for centuries with the majority of Ghanaians still patronising the services of traditional healers. Don’t blame the pangolin (or any other animal) for COVID-19. Furthermore, little information exists on the levels of trade and harvest of biodiversity from the wild that is used for traditional medicine in Ghana [51].

PLoS ONE 10(1): The CI, RFC and UAV indices place bones and the head in second and third positions, respectively. All three species of African pangolin that occur within Ghana; the white-bellied pangolin (Phataginus tricuspis), black-bellied pangolin (Phataginus tetradactyla) and the giant ground pangolin (Smutsia gigantea) have been up-listed to Vulnerable on the recently revised IUCN Red List [38].

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. [31], but using UV instead of Quality Use Value (QUV), the use agreement value (UAV) was defined as follows: Our study, however, found the versatility of pangolin bones for the treatment of more than one ailment to be greater in Ghana than was indicated for Nigeria [19, 20] and Sierra Leone [23]. broad scope, and wide readership – a perfect fit for your research every time.

Yes http://www.kma.ghanadistricts.gov.gh/?arrow=atd&_=6&sa=1823. Despite their conservation and protection status, pangolins are still being hunted for their purported medicinal values and the law regarding the protection of the species is not enforced.

where CI is the cultural importance index of body part and IAR is the informant agreement ratio of that body part.

[31] this index provides a valid and easily derived estimation of the animal’s medicinal cultural significance as a resource. National Zoological Gardens of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa, What are pangolin scales used for?
African Pangolin Working Group, Pretoria, South Africa, Affiliation

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. Those traditional healers that partook in this study were all trained via a family tradition and obtained their knowledge verbally from either a mother, father, uncle or grandparent and therefore this knowledge is likely to be idiosyncratic in nature and, in turn, would influence the results and the consensus on use of a particular pangolin body part. [31] established that the combination of the number of use reports and the level of consensus between participants seems to provide a valid and easily derived estimate of cultural significance and it can therefore be deduced that the culturally important pangolin body parts found in this study, such as scales, bones and head, are those with high use agreement values. A tribe or community’s cultural and traditional background and belief systems rather than pharmacological properties often plays a greater role in determining the effectiveness of traditional medicine [48]. An estimated 1 million pangolins were trafficked in the last ten … Click through the PLOS taxonomy to find articles in your field. Is the Subject Area "Ghana" applicable to this article? In June 2020, EIA exposed that, following a report in China’s State media about the removal of pangolin scales from the country’s TCM pharmacopoeia, while pangolins had been removed from a section listing key TCM ingredients, they were still included as an ingredient in patent medicines.–, In April 2020, EIA exposed how 24 companies in China were using the bones of endangered leopards in traditional medicines –. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0117199.t001. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0117199.t002.

The head was mainly used to treat infertility while the meat was used in the preparation of charms for chiefs. However, illegal trade of the species continues.

The heart and limbs were the lowest in all indices.

“By keeping the door open … 1250 24th Street, N.W.

Department of Environmental, Water and Earth Sciences, Tshwane University of Technology, Pretoria, South Africa,

The low use value and medicinal application of the bile, leg, heart, waist, claws and toes are indications that these pangolin … Make a symbolic pangolin adoption to help save some of the world's most endangered animals from extinction and support WWF's conservation efforts.

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.

Harbin Medical University, CHINA, Received: September 30, 2014; Accepted: December 19, 2014; Published: January 20, 2015, Copyright: © 2015 Boakye et al. No, Is the Subject Area "Traditional medicine" applicable to this article? Some pangolin species such as the Sunda pangolin …

[14] found pangolin meat to be less valued for medicinal purposes compared to other body parts, however our study indicates that among the 13 pangolin body parts used by traditional healers, the meat was the fourth most culturally important after scales, the head and bones. These cultural medical knowledge systems are often organised within local cultural communities [47] and the belief system of TMPs may not offer a substitute for a particular remedy thus making sole reliance on pangolin body parts inevitable. Image of pangolin products for media use: 环境调查署致力调查及打击破坏环境的罪行和滥用行为。透过秘密调查，本署揭发破坏野生动植物的跨国罪行，主要针对涉及大象、穿山甲及老虎和森林的罪行，例如非法伐木、滥伐森林以种植如棕榈树等经济作物。我们致力保护全球海洋生态系统，针对塑胶污染带来的威胁，误捕及商业捕杀鲸鱼。此外，我们倡议消除制冷剂引致的大量温室气体，揭发相关的非法贸易，以减低对气候变化带来影响。, 2020年6月，中国官方媒体报导指穿山甲片已在药典中被删除。环境调查署发现，尽管穿山甲已从原材料的部分中被移除，但仍被包含在专利药物的成分中 –. Even though the healing properties and effectiveness of pangolin body parts have not been scientifically tested, they remain of large cultural significance due to their purported healing properties and the harvest of these species will continue unabated.