As the cost of Western pharmaceuticals rises across Ghana (a West African nation of roughly 33 million people), between 60 and 70 percent of the population relies on traditional plant-based medicine for primary healthcare, according to a 2023 study. Vendors in Accra's open-air markets sell fresh herbs, bark, and vines harvested from rural forests each morning, while the government-backed Center for Plant Medicine Research — founded in 1976 — treats around 16,000 outpatients monthly and is currently investigating plants including a green shrub showing promise against prostate cancer. Researchers at the centre say their scientific work is built on knowledge passed down through generations of Indigenous Ga and Twi practitioners, whose expertise they seek to validate and bring to wider international attention.