Pharmacovigilance for traditional medicine products: Why and how?
Overview
The quest for traditional health knowledge began at the dawn of civilization.
Currently, at least 25% of all modern medicines are derived, either directly or indirectly, from medicinal plants. Traditional medicines and practices are in use in both industrialized and developing countries. More than three-fourths of the populations of countries in the WHO South-East Asia (SEA) Region use traditional medicines and practitioners for their health care. These traditional systems of medicine have the potential to improve health, wellness, and people-centred health care.
This is the first-ever regional publication on traditional medicine from the WHO South-East Asia Region. It enumerates the overall situation and development of traditional medicine from the perspective of health system building blocks, and analyses policies, regulations, training and education, as well as human resource development, service delivery, and research and development. It highlights the key developments and progress made in recent years and seeks to generate evidence and data that could serve as a baseline for future assessments.
This publication provides a detailed account of the work done in the last five years to strengthen traditional medicine in the Region by countries and WHO, and includes country profiles. It is a contribution to the efforts towards the evolution of traditional medicine and the quest for evidence-based, safe, and quality health care.
