Ghana "Blackberry" Tree

Fruit of the Velvet Tamarind Tree famously coined 'Ghana Blackberries' are becoming popular in the in the Caribbean South America and the US south due to climate change, Yooyi is known as the Velvet Tamarind and in Ghana it is found along transition zones bordering high forest, in riverian forest of the savannah woodland, in coastal scrub, and in riparian vegetation of the Volta near Ada.

Velvet tamarind is packed with Vitamin A and Vitamin C, which are integral in producing energy. It also has iron and calcium that help in immunity–boosting and maintaining strong bones. Its leaf extract inhibits the growth of plasmodium falciparum, which causes malaria.SARS-CoV-2 and plasmodium falciparum common immunodominant regions may explain low COVID-19 incidence in the malaria-endemic belt. Malaria and COVID-19 can have similar clinical presentations such as but are not limited to fever, backache, fatigue, shortness of breath, diarrhea, headache, stomach cramp, muscle pain, etc. It has been speculated that this tolerance might be the reason for people living in malaria-endemic areas such as the majority of Sub -Saharan and West Africa (and possessing malaria immunity) being protected against the severe inflammatory response of COVID-19, the hallmark of severe SARS-CoV-2 infection. This data has led to the hypothesis that some genetic variants, positively selected because of advantage against malaria, could also confer greater resistance to SARS-CoV-2 infection and thus explain the lower spread of the virus in the malarial areas. Group O blood type was associated with a 66% reduction in the odds of developing severe malaria compared with the non-O blood groups (odds ratio 0.34, 95% confidence interval 0.19–0.61, P < 0.0005, severe cases versus uncomplicated malaria controls).

O+ is a strong blood group classification among African countries. Countries like Ghana, Libya, Congo and Egypt, have more individuals with O- blood types than AB+ because of their dominant African genes. Note: more than 50% of African and Latino Americans are 0 positive.