The World Health Organization (WHO) has concluded plans to convene the first Traditional Medicine Global Summit which will hold on the 17th and 18th of August 2023 in Gandhinagar, Gujarat, India.
According to statement released by the World Body to the Pressmen on Thursday stated that this summit is co-hosted by the Government of India.
Adding that the Summit will explore role of traditional complementary, and integrative medicine in addressing pressing health challenges and driving progress in global health and sustainable development.
While it high-level participants will include the WHO Director-General and Regional Directors, G20 health ministers and high-level invitees from countries across WHO’s six regions.
Also, Scientists, practitioners of traditional medicine, health workers and members of the civil society organizations will also take part.
It further said 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.
WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus said, “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”.
The DG added that, 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, holistic approaches to health and well-being”, Dr Ghebreyesus said.
Recall Heads of State and Govt at the 2019 United Nations high-level meeting on universal health coverage acknowledged the need to include evidence-based traditional and complementary medicine services particularly in primary health care, a cornerstone of health systems, 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”, the World Body said.
The 2023 WHO Traditional Medicine Global Summit is organized by WHO Global Traditional Medicine Centre, and is co-hosted by the Government of India, which holds the G20 presidency in 2023 under the theme “One Earth, One Family, One Future”.
This will be the first in a series of WHO global summits on traditional medicine, which will be held every other year in different WHO regions.