Greater role for Traditional medicine in the African Region
Brazzaville, 3 September 2013 -- The role of traditional medicine in health care has been given a significant boost following the release of an updated Traditional Medicine Strategy aimed at ensuring that countries in the Region use traditional medicine as a viable option to improve people’s health.
Addressing Health Ministers from the WHO African Region, at their annual meeting currently taking place in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo, the WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Luis Sambo said: “The aim of the updated strategy is to contribute to better health outcomes by optimizing and consolidating the role of traditional medicine in national health systems in the region.”
The strategy focuses on some critical actions to be undertaken by countries. These include: accelerating the implementation of national traditional medicine policies, ensuring that traditional medicine products are safe, afford-able and accessible as well as protecting intellectual property rights with a view to preserving traditional medicine knowledge and resources.
Other actions proposed include strengthening human resources capacity for development of traditional medicine, promoting and organizing large-scale cultivation and conservation of well-researched medicinal plants used for production of traditional medicine products and enhancing collaboration among stakeholders in various sectors.
Among the targets set out for countries are: investment in traditional medicine research; inclusion of traditional medicine products national essential medicines lists and large-scale cultivation of medicinal plants and local production targeting priority communicable and noncommunicable diseases.
The first regional traditional medicine strategy was adopted by countries in 2000 and implemented between 2001 and 2012 .Its implementation helped to raise awareness and the profile of traditional medicine. Statistics available at the WHO Regional Office for Africa show that by 2012, a total of 40 countries had developed national traditional medicine policies, as compared with eight countries in 2000; 24 countries had established national traditional medicine programmes as compared with 10 countries in 2000.
The implementation of the initial strategy during the past decade also led to 39 countries establishing national traditional medicine offices as compared with 15 in 2000. Similarly, twenty-five countries established national expert committees for the development of traditional medicine and many took steps to establish and strengthen their institutional capacities.
The health ministers are expected to adopt the updated Traditional Medicine Strategy which will contribute substantially towards greater a role for Traditional medicine in the African Region.
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For more information:
Technical contact:
Dr Ossy MJ Kasilo, Programme Area Coordinator, Essential Medicines and Health Technologies and Regional Advisor for Traditional Medicine
Media contact:
cam [at] afro.who.int, WHO Regional Office for Africa, P.O Box 6, Brazzaville, Republic of Congo Tel: +47 241 39100