Murder for body parts

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Murder for body parts also known as medicine murder (not to be confused with "medical murder") refers to the killing of a human being in order to excise body parts to use as medicine or purposes in witchcraft. Medicine murder is viewed as the obtaining of an item or items from a corpse to be used in traditional medicine. The practice occurs primarily in sub-equatorial Africa^{[citation needed]}.

The illegal organ trade has led to murder for body parts, because of a worldwide demand of organs for transplant and organ donors. For example, criminal organizations have engaged in kidnapping and killing people for the purpose of harvesting their organs for illegal organ trade.^[1] The extent is unknown, and non-fatal organ theft and removal is more widely reported than murder.

Historically, anatomy murders took place during the earlier parts of modern Western medicine. In the 19th century, the human body was still poorly understood, and fresh cadavers for dissection and anatomical study were sometimes difficult to obtain. Mortuaries remained the most common source, but in some cases, such as the notorious Irish murderers Burke and Hare, victims were killed then sold for study and research purposes.