Traditional Medicines in Global Health – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post 1200

Traditional Medicines in Global Health – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post 1200

Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post 1200 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to pharmaveterans2017@gmail.com  for publishing your contributions here.

Credit: August de Richelieu

Credit: Jonathan Borba

Credit: Xenia Kovaleva

Preamble

This blog post is based on a WHO report published by DevelopmentAid on 12th December 2025. Link here. https://www.developmentaid.org/news-stream/post/202833/who-traditional-medicine-use-global-summit-indigenous-knowledge?utm_campaign=NewsDigest&utm_medium=Email&utm_source=Newsletter&token=db66c8c8-346f-4eae-bfa0-543169fbb180 

Traditional Medicine in Global Health: Unlocking Potential, Respecting Knowledge, and Advancing Equity

Throughout much of human history, traditional medicine has been more than a form of healing; it has been a foundational part of community health, deeply interwoven with culture, ecology, and identity. Today, with nearly half the world still lacking access to essential health services, traditional medicine is once again gaining a place at the center of international health discussions. The World Health Organization (WHO) has stepped forward to advance evidence-based integration of traditional, complementary and integrative medicine systems into broader health frameworks, grounded in scientific inquiry, respect for Indigenous knowledge, and equitable health systems transformation.

A Growing Global Reality: Traditional Medicine in Daily Life

The WHO reports that in some member states, up to 90 % of the population uses traditional medicine services, and across the board, between 40 % and 90 % of people rely on such care for health and well-being. These practices range from herbal therapies and bone setting to Ayurveda, acupuncture, Indigenous healing systems, and locally adapted natural remedies that have co-evolved with cultures and ecosystems over centuries.

Traditional medicine’s continued relevance isn’t simply a nod to nostalgia or cultural preference. For many communities, especially in low-resource or rural settings, it represents the closest, most trusted, and often only accessible form of care available. Additionally, many people actively choose these systems because they offer a holistic, personalized and ecologically aligned approach to healing, acknowledging body, mind, spirit, and community rather than isolating symptoms alone.

Why Traditional Medicine Matters for Global Health

Several major forces are driving renewed interest in traditional medicine:

Healthcare Access and Equity

In regions where formal healthcare infrastructure is scarce or overstretched, traditional healers and systems often fill the gap, providing primary care that is locally grounded. In some countries, traditional practitioners are the backbone of community health networks, a testament to the potential role these systems can play in advancing Universal Health Coverage (UHC).

People-Centered Care

Modern health systems often face criticism for being overly reductionist, treating illnesses without addressing broader health needs. Traditional medicine offers a whole-person perspective that many patients find valuable for chronic disease management, mental well-being, and lifestyle-linked conditions.

Biodiversity and Indigenous Knowledge

Indigenous and traditional knowledge systems possess intimate understanding of plant medicines, healing practices, and ecological balance, knowledge that is increasingly recognized as a global public good for health and biodiversity conservation. In fact, Indigenous territories overlap with a staggering proportion of the planet’s remaining biodiversity, directly linking culture, ecosystem stewardship, and health.

The WHO Global Summit on Traditional Medicine: A Turning Point

To build momentum for an inclusive, evidence-based approach, WHO convenes the Global Traditional Medicine Summit. First launched in 2023 and convened again in December 2025 in New Delhi, this summit brings together policymakers, scientists, traditional practitioners, Indigenous leaders, and innovators to discuss strategic pathways that elevate traditional medicine’s role in global health systems.

Key Themes of the Summit

The summit’s agenda spans several interconnected domains, each crucial for meaningful integration:

Evidence and Research

While traditional systems have a long history of practical use, a stronger scientific evidence base is essential to integrate them safely and effectively into formal health systems. The summit promotes research, evidence mapping and dialogue about methodologies that respect traditional epistemologies while meeting rigorous scientific standards.

WHO is also championing research innovations such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) to mine vast troves of traditional knowledge, map clinical evidence, and even identify new compound leads for drug development, bridging ancient wisdom with cutting-edge technology.

Policy, Data and Regulation

Traditional medicine’s incorporation into health systems requires robust policy frameworks, quality control mechanisms, and regulatory structures that protect both patient safety and knowledge integrity. Standardized data collection and coding, linking traditional medicine use to systems like WHO’s International Classification of Diseases, are crucial for monitoring outcomes, utilization patterns, and health impacts over time. These systems also serve as tools to ensure that regulation does not strip traditional practices of their cultural context or reduce them to commercial products devoid of meaning and community benefit.

Indigenous Knowledge and Intellectual Property

Protecting Indigenous knowledge from appropriation and commodification is a key ethical concern. Summit discussions foreground equitable legal frameworks that ensure Indigenous communities retain control over their knowledge and receive fair benefits from its use in commercial or research contexts—challenging historic imbalances in intellectual property and global research paradigms.

Science, Technology and Digital Transformation

One of the most exciting developments emerging from WHO’s work is the launch of digital platforms and knowledge repositories, including a global traditional medicine library with over 1.6 million scientific records, and expanded data networks that connect researchers, policymakers, and practitioners.

From Global Summit to Global Strategy: 2025–2034

WHO’s work on traditional medicine is not a standalone event; it is part of a ten-year global strategy (2025–2034) that emerged from consensus at the World Health Assembly. The strategy centers on four strategic priorities:

• Advancing the evidence base for traditional, complementary, and integrative medicine.

• Supporting safe and effective regulation and policy.

• Integrating traditional medicine into people-centered health systems.

• Optimizing the value of traditional medicine knowledge in sustainable development across sectors.

Implementation of this strategy aims to ensure that traditional medicine contributes equitably to health outcomes, economic resilience, community well-being, and planetary sustainability, without sidelining the cultural dignity and rights of Indigenous knowledge holders.

Challenges and Future Directions

Despite its promise, integrating traditional medicine into mainstream global health raises complex challenges:

Safety and Quality Control

Traditional therapies vary widely in preparation, dosage, and practice. Not everything labeled “natural” is safe, and centuries of use do not automatically translate into evidence of clinical efficacy. Sound regulation, practitioner education, and monitoring systems are needed to safeguard public health.

Research Funding Gaps

Less than 1 % of global health research funding currently flows to traditional medicine, even though reliance on these systems is widespread. Prioritizing research investment is crucial to build credible evidence that policymakers and clinicians can trust.

Equitable Intellectual Property and Benefit Sharing

Historic patterns of knowledge extraction threaten community trust in research partnerships. Ethical frameworks must ensure that Indigenous and local knowledge holders maintain agency, recognition, and fair benefit from commercialization.

Integration Versus Assimilation

True integration does not mean forcing traditional medicine into a biomedical mold. It means respectful co-existence, mutual learning, and plural evidence models that allow different knowledge systems to contribute to health in ways that are safe, contextualized, and culturally appropriate.

Sum Up

Traditional medicine stands at a pivotal moment: widely practiced, culturally enduring, and increasingly relevant to global health challenges. The WHO’s leadership through global summits, research initiatives, digital innovation, and strategic prioritization reflects an effort to bridge knowledge traditions in ways that advance human and planetary well-being.

The future of global health need not choose between Western biomedicine and traditional systems. Instead, the path forward envisions dialogue, respect, evidence, and shared benefit, rooted in the belief that diverse healing systems can work in harmony to serve communities around the world, especially those historically underserved by formal health infrastructure.

As the world moves toward universal health coverage and equitable well-being for all, traditional medicine has an opportunity to contribute not just treatments, but perspectives on health that are inclusive, holistic, and life-affirming.

Concluded.

Disclaimers: Pictures in these blogs are taken from free resources at Pexels, Pixabay, Unsplash, and Google. Credit is given where available. If a copyright claim is lodged, we shall remove the picture with appropriate regrets.

For most blogs, I research from several sources which are open to public. Their links are mentioned under references. There is no intent to infringe upon anyone’s copyrights. If, any claim is lodged, it will be acknowledged and duly recognized immediately.