New WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Government of India have signed an agreement to establish the WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine, a knowledge centre for traditional medicine. The onsite launch will be on 21 April 2022 in Gujurat, India, and the initiative is supported by an investment of USD 250 million from the Indian Government.

The centre is part of WHO’s overall traditional medicine strategy and will have a strategic focus on evidence and learning, data and analytics, sustainability and equity, and innovation and technology to optimise the contribution of traditional medicine to global health and sustainable development. It aims to harness the potential of traditional medicine from across the world through modern science and technology to improve the health of people and the planet.

The term traditional medicine describes the total sum of the knowledge, skills and practices indigenous and different cultures have used over time to maintain health and prevent, diagnose and treat physical and mental illness. Its reach encompasses traditional practices such as herbal medicines, acupuncture, homeopathy and anthroposophic medicine as well as yoga, indigenous therapies and modern medicines. Around 80% of the world’s population is estimated to use traditional medicine. The WHO Global Report on Traditional and Complementary Medicine (2019) shows that homeopathy is used in 100 countries around the world, making it the third most popular specific complementary medicine after acupuncture and herbal medicine.

To date, 170 of the 194 WHO Member States have reported the use of traditional medicine. But today, national health systems and strategies do not yet fully integrate the millions of traditional medicine workers, accredited courses, health facilities, and health expenditures. The new centre will concentrate on building a solid evidence base for policies and standards on traditional medicine practices and products and help countries integrate it as appropriate into their health systems and to regulate its quality and safety for maximum impact.