The World Health Organisation (WHO) has called for the appropriate use of traditional medicine in modern health systems. They say that these efforts might assist billions of people throughout the world in getting better access to, affording, and preventing diseases. The statement was sent during the WHO Global Summit on Traditional Medicine, which was held in India and attended by health ministers, scientists, Indigenous leaders, and politicians from more than 100 nations. 

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the Director-General of the WHO, opened the summit by thanking India for putting traditional medicine at the top of the global health agenda. Dr Tedros noted that Prime Minister Narendra Modi's goal of "One Earth, One Health" reflects the key values of traditional systems: balance between people and nature, prevention over cure, and health as a shared responsibility. He said that traditional medicine is "no longer at the margins but clearly on the global map" thanks to India's leadership. 

The drive comes against an obvious global background. Around 4.6 billion people, or almost half of the world's population, still don't have access to basic health services. Well over two billion people have trouble paying for care. WHO experts added that adding safe and effective traditional medicine to national health systems might provide people more options, save costs, and help make sure that everyone has access to health care, especially primary care. 

Traditional medicine, which commonly uses cures from plants and nature, puts a lot of focus on prevention, lifestyle, and whole-person care. New evidence shows that this method can help people get better and cut down on the unnecessary use of antibiotics, which is an increasing problem around the world. 
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WHO did say, though, that integration needs to be based on science and strict rules. Dr. Sylvie Briand, WHO's chief scientist, said, "We need to use the same level of scientific rigour to evaluate and validate biomedicine and traditional medicines." She went on to say that emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, genetics, and advanced data analysis could change the way traditional medicine is studied, as long as they preserve biodiversity, cultural customs, and moral standards. 

The summit also talked about the economic and environmental aspects of traditional medicine. Natural products and herbal remedies are the basis of many fast-growing enterprises around the world. More than half of all contemporary drugs come from natural sources. Indigenous people make up only 6% of the world's population, but they protect around 40% of the world's biodiversity. But for now, fewer than one per cent of global health research funding goes to traditional medicine. 

To fill this gap, the World Health Organisation (WHO) started the Global Traditional Medicine Library, a digital platform with more than 1.6 million scientific datasets about research, policies, and rules. The Library's goals are to preserve intellectual property and community rights, make it easier for policymakers to make decisions based on evidence, and give lower-income countries equal access to information through the Research4Life project. 

Dr Shyama Kuruvilla, Director (a.i.) of the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Centre, remarked, "Advancing traditional medicine is an evidence-based, ethical, and environmental imperative." Dr. Shyama Kuruvilla observed that the summit marked a shift from rhetoric to action, as governments pledged to increase evidence, implement safer regulations, and ensure equitable benefit-sharing. 

Dr Tedros said that the real test would be whether countries follow through. He remarked, "The future of health must be integrative, inclusive, and based on evidence." He stressed that science and tradition should work together to develop strong health systems that will last for centuries.