Participatory Ethnomedicinal Cancer Research with Fante-Akan Herbalists in Rural Ghana

An ethnomedicinal study was initated with herbalists in coastal Central Region Ghana to explore how cancer is defined, diagnosed, and treated within a traditonal Fante-Akan context. The partcipatory, service-oriented investgaton included internatonal collaboraton with herbalists and traditonal plant experts. On-site meetngs informed community leaders and members of project intent and methods, guided protocol, and gauged critcal support. To provide immediate educatonal and economic opportunites, hands-on actvites with villagers transferred academic and applied skills. Ethnographic interviews and voucher specimen collectons were conducted with seven herbalists. Plant samples were dried and housed locally in a community herbarium cabinet constructed in Kormantse. Ten cancer ethnopharmacopoeia plants were identfied, most of which are species considered natve to tropical Africa. Fante Akan herbalists listed various types of cancers they treat with herbal remedies, along with ethnomedicinal descriptons of disease etology, diagnoses, and treatments. The most common cancer type mentoned was "breast cancer." Topical applicaton was the most often cited method of administering remedies. Researchers established key contacts in the Kormantse, Salt Pond, and Elmina communites, and identfied local and internatonal research collaborators for a proposed interdisciplinary project focused on longitudinal case studies with herbalists, patents, and medical physicians.