The event will delve into the role of traditional, complementary, and integrative medicine in addressing critical health challenges and advancing global health and sustainable development

The Director-General of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and Regional Directors, along with G20 health ministers and invitees from countries across WHO’s six regions, are set to participate in the Traditional Medicine Global Summit being held on August 17 and 18, at Gandhinagar in India.

WHO has convened the summit, co-hosted by the Government of India. The event will delve into the role of traditional, complementary, and integrative medicine in addressing critical health challenges and advancing global health and sustainable development.

Apart from WHO representatives and health ministers, scientists, traditional medicine practitioners, healthcare workers, and civil society organizations will participate and engage in the proceedings.

At the summit, WHO will present emerging findings from the third global survey on traditional medicine, which, for the first time, includes questions on financing of traditional and complementary medicine, health of Indigenous peoples, quality assurance, traditional medicine knowledge, biodiversity, trade, integration, patient safety, and more.

“Traditional medicine can play an important and catalytic role in achieving the goal of universal health coverage and meeting global health-related targets that were off-track even before the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “Bringing traditional medicine into the mainstream of health care — appropriately, effectively, and above all, safely based on the latest scientific evidence — can help bridge access gaps for millions of people around the world. It would be an important step toward people-centered and holistic approaches to health and well-being.”

In 2022, with the support of the Government of India, WHO set up the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Centre in response to the increased global interest and demand for evidence-based traditional medicine. It is the first and only WHO global centre dedicated to traditional medicine. This knowledge hub focuses on partnership, evidence, data, biodiversity, and innovation to optimise the contribution of traditional medicine to global health, universal health coverage, and sustainable development, and is guided by respect for local heritages, resources, and rights.

The third global survey on traditional medicine is designed to monitor the progress in the performance of traditional and complementary systems, to better understand their role, function and impact in countries’ health systems and to align with WHO and global monitoring frameworks. The results will support the development of new traditional medicine strategy 2025-2034. The survey is building on the previous global surveys conducted in 2001 and 2012, with follow-up data collected between 2016 and 2018. The results were published in the 2019 WHO Global report on traditional and complementary medicine.

The summit will explore ways to scale up scientific advances and realize the potential of evidence-based knowledge in the use of traditional medicine for people’s health and well-being around the world. Scientists and other experts will lead technical discussions on research, evidence and learning; policy, data and regulation; innovation and digital health; and biodiversity, equity and Indigenous knowledge.

Heads of State and government at the 2019 UN high-level meeting on universal health coverage acknowledged the need to include evidence-based traditional and complementary medicine services in pursuit of health for all.

Today, traditional and complementary medicine is well established in many parts of the world, where it plays an important role in the culture, health and well-being of many communities. In some countries, it represents a significant part of the health sector’s economy, and for millions of people around the world it is the only available source of health care.

“Advancing science on traditional medicine should be held to the same rigorous standards as in other fields of health. This may require new thinking on the methodologies to address these more holistic, contextual approaches and provide evidence that is sufficiently conclusive and robust to lead to policy recommendations,” said Dr John Reeder, WHO Director of Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases and Director of the Department of Research for Health.

The summit will also explore research and evaluation of traditional medicine, including methodologies that can be used to develop a global research agenda and priorities in this system of medicine. Findings from the systematic reviews of traditional medicine and health, evidence maps of clinical effectiveness, and an artificial intelligence global research map on traditional medicine will be presented at the event.

Participants in the summit will examine a global overview of policy, legal and regulatory landscapes; formal structures and policies to collect data and establish systems for information management; an assessment of educational and training programmes for the development of traditional medicine workforce; and experiences and best practices on training, accreditation and regulation of traditional medicine practitioners, which can substantially advance patient safety and minimize patient harm in the provision of traditional medicine services.

Biodiversity and indigenous knowledge are foundational pillars of traditional medicine and health and well-being, especially for Indigenous peoples; 80 per cent of the world’s remaining biodiversity is in Indigenous territories or lands, while conservation of biodiversity is a key issue related to the sustainable use of traditional medicines.

In preparation for the summit, a WHO global workshop on biodiversity, indigenous knowledge, health, and well-being was held in Brazil from July 25 to 28, to better understand the invaluable connection between biodiversity, traditional knowledge, and human health. Meeting outcomes, in the form of recommendations, will be presented at the summit, and will contribute to the biodiversity and One Health workstream.

The summit’s focus on sustainable biodiversity management in the face of the climate crisis will drive the identification and sharing of best practices, initiatives, and legislative frameworks on the protection of traditional knowledge, innovation, and access and equitable benefit-sharing by countries.

The discussions at the summit will focus on the rising prospect of global economic activities related to traditional medicine. This will include indigenous knowledge-based innovations in healthcare, application of intellectual property laws and regulations, and the use and promotion of indigenous and ancestral medicine through intercultural dialogues to support community health.

Also Read: WHO to release global traditional medicine survey prior to landmark summit in India