Traditional herbal medicine practitioners in the Banda District of the Bono region have received support from the United Nations Development Progr
Traditional herbal medicine practitioners in the Banda District of the Bono region have received support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) through Hope Alive 360 Foundation, a Sunyani based Non -Governmental organization (NGO).
The support is part of the United Nations Development Programme Global Environment Facility’s (GEF) Small Grant Programme(SGP).
The project dubbed, “Building Capacities of Traditional Health Practitioners in Makala Traditional Area for the conservation and sustainable utilization of biodiversity products, food security, and commodity value chain for livelihood enterprise development”.
The eighteen months project seeks to build and sustain capacities of traditional health practitioners in Banda in good practices of production and packaging of herbal medicine, improve the quality and availability of herbal medicine through natural regeneration, sustainable agroforestry practices, alley cropping and woodlot establishment and growing of trees on farms as well as support sustainable livelihood enterprise development as a means of promoting biodiversity conservation within the landscape.
Speaking at a ceremony to launch the project, the Executive Director of Hope Alive 360 Foundation, Mr. Baffour-Mensah thanked the United Nations Development Programme for the grant. He said herbal medicine practice is an age-old occupation and a source of healthcare provision which has to be sustained through various interventions. He said the sustainability of herbal medicine practice is at risk due to climate change and human activities leading to some medicinal plants on the verge of extinction.
Mr. Baffour-Mensah added that the sustainability of the herbal medicine practice was largely dependent on the availability of medicinal plants. He therefore underscored the need for stakeholders including the herbal medicine practitioners, chiefs and the Banda District Assembly to support the project.
On his part, the Chairman of the Banda Traditional Herbal Practitioners Association was full of praise for Hope Alive 360 Foundation and the United Nations Development Programme-Ghana for the support.
He appealed to the government to prioritize herbal medicine practice since it has the potential to create jobs and earn the country foreign exchange through export.
The Chief of Bofie, Nana Yaw Mensah II pledged his support for the project and said he and his elders were prepared to donate land.
COMMENTS