Centre & WHO to build 'traditional medicine centre' in Gujarat
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New Delhi: To start a World Health Organization (WHO) Global Centre for Traditional Medicine in Gujarat, WHO and the government of India signed an agreement on Friday, The Indian Express reported.
The medicine centre to be established in Gujarat's Jamnagar will have the Union government's backing with 250 million US dollar investment. It aims to start a solid evidence base for policies and standards on traditional medical practices and products.
The initiative will concentrate on the four areas of evidence and learning, data and analytics, sustainability and equity and innovation and technology. Its objective also includes helping countries to integrate traditional medicine into their health systems, regulating its quality.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi praised the initiative and added that through various such schemes, the BJP government has been tireless in its work to make preventive and curative healthcare affordable and accessible to all. He expressed his hope that the Jamnagar centre will provide the best healthcare solutions to the world.
Nearly 80 per cent of the world's population use traditional medicine, and 170 of 194 WHO member countries have reported using it. These countries' governments have requested WHO's support in creating a body of evidence and data on traditional medicinal practices, TIE reports. However, national health systems have never fully adopted the medicine or integrated millions of practitioners or accredited courses, health facilities, health expenditures.
Around 40 per cent of approved pharmaceutical products today were born from natural substances.
WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that millions of people worldwide depend on traditional medicine as the first option for many diseases. The new centre in Gujarat will ensure WHO's mission of providing access and effective treatment to all. The centre will also strengthen the evidence-based traditional medicine with the support of science, the WHO said and expressed his gratitude towards the Indian government.