Ethnozoological scatology: a situational report on the utilisation of animal excrement in traditional medicine in Ghana.

BACKGROUND: Animal excrement although may be considered as a waste product, has since ancient days found use in the management of several physical disorders and sometimes for spiritual or mystical purposes. This study assessed the extent of use and the attitude towards animal excrement in traditional medicine among the Ghanaian public. METHODS: Data was collected from 399 persons in the Tamale metropolis of the Northern Region of Ghana using a semi-structured questionnaire. Data analysis involved the use of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, Version 26 and the results presented in the form of tables and charts. The multivariate logistic regression model was used to assess predictors. Using a confidence interval of 95%, an association between variables was assumed to be significant when p ≤ 0.05. RESULTS: Whereas 44 (11.6%) indicated a personal use of animal excrement for traditional medicine, up to 234 (58.6%) knew some other person who had ever used animal excrement as medicine. The majority, 42 (97.7%) of users applied them for therapeutic reasons with only 1 (2.3%) claiming to use them for spiritual or mystical purposes. The top two most cited excrements were from the Dromedary camel (Camelus dromedarius) and the cow (Bos taurus). Statistically significant associations were found between the use of animal excrement for traditional medicine and respondents' ages (p-value < 0.001), religious affiliation (p-value < 0.001), employment status (p-value = 0.018), highest educational attainment (p-value = 0.003) and knowing someone who used animal excrement (p-value < 0.001). The predictors of the use of animal excrement for traditional medicine were age, religious affiliation and knowing a user. The attitude towards the use of animal excrement for traditional medicine was barely average (51.8%) with the worst attitude towards the therapeutic use of human excreta. CONCLUSION: The use of animal excrement in traditional medicine, especially for therapeutic purposes is practised in Ghana. The predictors of using animal excrement for traditional medicine were age, religious affiliation and knowing a user but the general attitude towards animal excrement in traditional medicine can be considered as average.