WHO holds its first traditional medicine summit – 08/17/2023 – Health

The World Health Organization (WHO) kicked off its first traditional medicine summit in India this Thursday (17), warning that these alternative treatments based on natural products are effective only if they are based on scientific evidence.

The two-day summit takes place on the sidelines of a meeting of G20 health ministers in the Indian city of Gandhinagar.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared at the opening of the summit that the UN agency “is working to create data and evidence that inform policies, standards and regulations for the safe, cost-effective and equitable use of traditional medicine “.

Traditional medicine can alleviate “access gaps” to health care, but it has value only if it is used “appropriately, effectively and, above all, based on scientific evidence”, he said.

The agency was widely criticized by Internet users, who accused it of having given scientific validity to pseudoscience by asking its followers if they had resorted to treatments such as homeopathy or naturopathy.

The WHO later indicated on the social network X (formerly known as Twitter) that it was aware of the “concerns” expressed by people and admitted that it “could have articulated better [a sua] message”.

“We need to face a very important fact, that traditional medicines are widely used,” the head of the WHO Scientific Council, Nobel laureate Harold Varmus, said in a video message during the summit.

“It is important to understand what the ingredients of traditional medicines are, why they work in some cases […] and, most importantly, we need to understand and identify which traditional medicines don’t work,” he said.

The summit, which is expected to become an annual event, takes place after the inauguration of the WHO Global Center for Traditional Medicine in the same Indian state of Gujarat.

little regulation

The use of these techniques is widespread in some parts of the world, but it is also the subject of disagreements.

The UN health agency defines traditional medicine as the knowledge, skills and practices used to maintain health and to prevent, diagnose and treat physical and mental illness.

But the effectiveness of many treatments has not been scientifically proven, and nature advocates warn that the industry fuels the trade in endangered species such as tigers, rhinos and pangolins.

The use of home remedies grew during the Covid-19 pandemic, such as an infusion of mugwort promoted by the President of Madagascar as a treatment. Although the plant has curative properties against malaria, its effectiveness against Covid-19 is disputed by many doctors.

In China, traditional medicine is deeply rooted, but European health bodies repeatedly ask that it be subject to the same regulation as Western methods.

“Scientific advances in traditional medicine must meet the same rigorous standards as in other areas of health,” WHO lead researcher John Reeder said in a statement.

According to him, this probably requires a new “more holistic and contextual” methodology to provide “sufficiently conclusive and robust evidence”.

Of the 194 WHO countries, 170 recognize traditional medicine as of 2018, but only 124 have laws or regulations on its use.

“Natural does not always mean safe, and centuries of use are no guarantee of efficacy. Therefore, scientific method and process must be applied to provide the necessary solid evidence,” the WHO said.

The agency claims that 40% of approved drugs currently in use derive from a “natural product base” and cites “fundamental drugs” that come from traditional medicine, such as aspirin, made from willow bark formulas.