International Conference on Traditional Medicine for South-East Asian Countries

The Department of AYUSH, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India, in collaboration with WHO-SEARO, New Delhi,will organize International Conference on Traditional Medicine on 12-14 February 2013.The conference will be participated by Health Ministers of the SEARO region, experts from WHO SEAR (South East Asia Region),WPR (Western Pacific Region) and other countries. The objective is to promote the role of traditional and complementary medicine (TM & CM) in healthcare provision in general and Primary Health Care in particular, evaluate the integration of TM & CM into National Health Systems and promotion of their use in Primary Healthcare, share research methodologies for studies on safety, efficacy and quality of TM & CM for PHC in order to identify best practices to ensure the safety, share National policies, programmes and experiences on TM &CM to promote and propagate in SEARO Region,exchange views and share evidence-based information and country experiences on TM & CM, identify priority issues and challenges in strengthening the development and appropriate integration of traditional medicine as part of the National Health system. It may be mentioned that traditional medicines are used around the world including South-East Asian countries for healthcare by the people. In recent years there has been global upsurge in the use of traditional medicine because ofits availability, accessibility and affordability as against the modern healthcare services which are beyond the reach of people. World Health Organization (WHO) has been supporting the development of traditional and complementary medicines (TM & CM) in all member countries. The 62nd World Health Assembly Resolution WHA62.13 in 2009 urged the Member States to undertake various activities in the field of traditional medicine in accordance with national capacities, priorities, relevant legislations and circumstances. The activities inter alia include strengthening communication between conventional and traditional medicine providers, formulating national policies, regulations and standards and cooperation among countries with regard to sharing knowledge and practices of traditional medicine. The South-East Asian (SEA) countries have a rich heritage of several systems of Traditional Medicine (TM). They have vast resources of medicinal plants and huge repositories of knowledge in TM. Different systems of traditional medicine and complementary/alternative medicine (TM/CAM) have been used in all countries of the South-East Asia Region (SEAR). WHO Regional Office for South East Asia has been assisting these countries to promote the use of TM so that valuable resource is utilized safely and effectively. India has long history and culture running over 5000 years of using traditional medicines for healthcare. Indian traditional systems of medicines viz. Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Siddha, and Sowa Rigpa are comprehensive scientific systems of medicine evolved in India. Over a period of time, India has developed vast network of infrastructure for its traditional system of medicine and Homoeopathy including five Research Councils (one for each system), National Institute for each system, National Medicinal Plants Board (NMPB), two statutory regulatory bodies (Central Council of Indian Medicine (CCIM) and Central Council of Homoeopathy (CCH)), and two apex laboratories (Pharmacopoeial Laboratory for Indian Medicine (PLIM) and Homoeopathic Pharmacopoeial Laboratory (HPL)). India has also been able to achieve substantial integration by co-location of AYUSH facilities along with conventional facilities at primary health centres, community health centres and district hospitals. Due to sustained and multi-pronged integrated efforts, there is huge appreciation for Indian traditional systems of medicines and Homeopathy in the country and other parts of world particularly in South East-Asian countries. Government of India has adopted a long-term objective of establishing a system of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in the country with functional integration as one of the strategies. The conference is expected to broaden and update the knowledge on integration, regulation and research priorities in TM & CM. It will also enhance cooperation among SEARO countriesin the field of traditional medicine.