Open AccessAntimalarial Drugs in Ghana: A Case Study on Personal Preferences
Author(s) -
Prince Yeboah,
Arnold Donkor Forkuo,
Obed Kwabena Offe Amponsah,
Nana Ofori Adomako,
Ahmad Yaman Abdin,
Muhammad Jawad Nasim,
Werner Pitsch,
Anto Berko Panyin,
Eike Emrich,
Claus Jacob
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
sci
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 2413-4155
DOI - 10.3390/sci2020045
Subject(s) - distrust , malaria , medicine , traditional medicine , pharmacy , adverse effect , developing country , quality (philosophy) , business , pharmacology , family medicine , economic growth , psychology , economics , immunology , philosophy , epistemology , psychotherapist
Malaria is a serious infection affecting millions of people in Africa. Our study investigated the personal preferences and applications of antimalarial medicines in Ghana. Based on over 1000 questionnaires distributed in Ghana from January to May 2019, we noticed that although Western medications to fight this disease are widely available, most patients in Ghana prefer treatment with locally produced herbal remedies. This preference appears to be due to a combination of traditional venues for obtaining medicines “on the street” rather than in licensed pharmacies, trust in local and “green” products, extensive advertisement of such local products, and an inherent distrust of imported and synthetic or unnatural medicines. Going local and natural is a trend also observed in other countries across the globe, and adds to the acceptance or rejection of drugs regardless of their activity or toxicity. In fact, adverse side effects associated with herbal remedies, such as general weakness and swollen, sore mouth, do not seem to deter the respondents of this study in Ghana. We propose a combination of (a) increasing public awareness of the benefits of modern medicine and (b) an improvement and control of the quality of herbal remedies to raise the standard of malaria treatment in countries such as Ghana.