Editorial Team
An interesting signal has recently arrived from the WHO (World Health Organization). A signal that authoritatively opposes those who seek to devalue Complementary Medicine, including Homeopathy and Homotoxicology.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General of WHO, sent a message to the World Congress on Integrated Medicine and Health, held in Rome last September: “WHO is “committed to developing the scientific basis to support the safe and effective use of traditional medicine in all countries, it established its traditional medicine program for the first time in 1976 and last year we announced the creation of a Global Centre for Traditional Medicine in India”. The World Health Organization has also included a chapter on traditional medicine in the latest version of the International Classification of Diseases to support the collection and reporting of data on traditional medicine at an international level. “WHO – concluded the Director General – “is now developing a new global strategy for the period 2025-2034. So the invitation is to work together to combine ancient knowledge and modern science in the pursuit of health for all”.
The endorsement of Complementary Medicine is only part of the story, because the WHO is committed to carrying out research, studies and opening centers where Complementary Medicine can be applied and all its benefits for patients can be evaluated.
“For millions of people around the world, traditional medicine is the first step to health and well-being,” WHO wrote on social media. “Traditional medicine is rooted in indigenous knowledge and the natural resources of communities. For centuries, it has been an integral resource for family health. WHO works to strengthen the evidence base for traditional medicine, improving its safety and effectiveness.”
What WHO includes among Complementary or Traditional Medicines are acupuncture, Ayurveda, herbal medicine, homeopathy, osteopathy, traditional Chinese medicine and Unani medicine.
The participation in the congress of integrative medicine in Rome, remotely and in person, of important figures of the WHO such as Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and Dr. Sungchol Kim, Director of the TCIM Unit at the WHO headquarters in Geneva, confirms that the international scientific community is finally recognizing the validity of traditional or complementary therapeutic practices, which have brought benefits to patients for centuries, practices often opposed and denigrated by a part of the scientific community which today cannot turn away when the WHO supports what, by some, was devalued.
