The President-General of COA Research and Manufacturing Ltd and President of GHAFTRAM, Prof. Samuel Ato Duncan, has stated that the Green Gold Agenda which is being pushed by GHAFTRAM is expected to raise US$ 5 billion annually for the country.
That, he said, was more than the proceeds made from cocoa for the country.
The Green Gold Agenda is a programme that seeks to harness the potential of traditional medicine through research and develop it to international standards for the global market as another commodity for Ghana.
“We expect this to generate over US$ 5 billion annually, which is more than that of our proceeds from the cocoa industry,” he stated.
Prof. Samuel Ato Duncan made the statement at the commemoration of the 22nd African Traditional Medicine (ATM) Day and 25th Traditional Medicine (TM) Week celebration in Ghana held over the weekend, at the Osu Presby Church in Accra.
He observed that the herbal medicine industry was one of the fastest growing industries in the world, due to factors such as consumer preference for natural products, the perception that natural products were effective with minimal to no side effects, rising costs for synthetic pharmaceutical drugs, and budget cuts for modern healthcare.
According to him, the global herbal medicinal products market was expected to be valued at US$ 177.65 billion by 2029.
He said in Asian countries including China, India, Singapore, and Malaysia, a significant portion of their total economic revenue was generated from the traditional medicine industry.
“It is based on these significant contributions of Traditional Medicine that is why WHO developed and launched the WHO Traditional Medicine Strategy 2014–2023, which also emphasised the integration of traditional and complementary medicine to promote universal healthcare and to ensure the quality, safety, and efficiency of such medicines,” he stated.
Despite the above statistics, Prof. Samuel Ato Duncan was disappointed that in Ghana, the Traditional Medicine Industry had received very little attention from successive governments.
The President of GHAFTRAM, therefore, urged the government to consider including approved traditional medicines in the national health insurance scheme.
He said the Federation would help Traditional Medicine practitioners to standardise their medicines and operations and as well establish a research committee made up of representatives from reputable research institutions and regulatory bodies.
In addition to the above, Prof. Duncan said the federation will establish a traditional medicine development and research fund to support research and development of traditional medicine in Ghana and as well look for funds internally and externally to support the industry and expand processing and distribution
