Congress: Integrative health and medicine

The International Congress on Integrative Health & Medicine in Stuttgart 9-11 June closed with a Declaration calling for more rapid integration of Complementary & Traditional Medicine into healthcare services, adopted by some 600 participants from over 40 countries. Physicians and representatives from different health professions discussed current concepts in integrative medicine. Presentations included models of integrative care in inpatient and outpatient settings as well as latest research results from oncology, cardiology, antimicrobial resistance and other areas.

One workshop, hosted by EUROCAM, CAMbrella and the World Health Organisation (WHO), discussed the implementation of the WHO’s Traditional Medicine Strategy 2014-23, the goals of which are to support Member States in harnessing the potential contribution of traditional medicine to health, wellness and people-centred health care, and promoting its safe and effective use by regulating, researching and integrating traditional medicine products, practitioners and practice into health systems where appropriate. The meeting was moderated by Dr Ton Nicolai of EUROCAM and key speakers were Dr Zhang QI, responsible for Traditional and Complementary Medicine at World Health Organisation (WHO) and Dr Peter Fisher, Expert Advisory Panel on Traditional and Complementary Medicine. 50% of European countries have no general legislation on CAM despite several resolutions by the World Health Assembly to integrate CAM into their health systems. Dr Zhang Qi addressed several actions endorsed by the WHO and Dr Peter Fisher stressed the need and the relevance to see Traditional Medicine integrated within universal health coverage and primary health care. Discussion focused on which actions are most important and should be prioritized.

The full programme and all the presentations are now available on the ICIHM website.