The seventy-second session of the Regional Committee for the Western Pacific will discuss major health issues relevant to the Region including school health, primary health care, COVID-19, tuberculosis, and traditional and complementary medicine. This story is part of a series examining how each health topic affects individuals in the Region.
Dr Liu Tao’s interest in traditional and complementary medicine goes back to 2003 when he became seriously ill with severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
“There were one or two months that I couldn’t sit up. I couldn’t even lift my head. It was then that I really understood what it was like to be a patient,” said Dr Liu, a doctor in Hong Kong SAR (China).
“My goals really became quite basic. All I wanted was to be a good doctor, to help people solve a few of their problems. To me, there are two essential qualities in a good doctor. First, to understand empathy and have compassion for a patient. Second, to have strong knowledge and diagnostic skills to offer concrete assistance.”
Dr Liu’s experience led him to use traditional Chinese medicine alongside Western medicine in his work.
Communities across the World Health Organization (WHO) Western Pacific Region use traditional and complementary medicine to prevent and treat a variety of health conditions.
“In Chinese medicine, it is about seeing, listening and asking,” said Dr Liu. “These techniques help the doctor understand the patient’s symptoms.”
“If a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine sees 100 patients, even if they all have the same symptoms, the approach will be different 100 times. Every individual has their own idiosyncrasies, and each life has its uniqueness.”
Watch Mr Liu talk about his journey with traditional and complementary medicine.
Traditional and complementary medicine has been used extensively in the Region to treat a variety of conditions. However, its practice varies widely, in keeping with the societal and cultural heritages of different countries – and it mostly remains outside the health system.
WHO plays an important role in supporting Member States to harness the role of traditional and complementary medicine for health and well-being. To help improve access to safe, effective and culturally accepted services, especially for populations that are hard to reach, WHO consulted on a draft regional framework for traditional and complementary medicine.
The draft framework is aligned with the WHO Traditional Medicine Strategy 2014–2023, which supports Member States to develop proactive policies and implement actions to strengthen the role traditional medicine plays in keeping populations healthy.
At this year’s seventy-second session, the Regional Committee will consider the draft Regional Framework for Harnessing Traditional and Complementary Medicine for Achieving Health and Well-being in the Western Pacific.
The framework identifies four strategic actions and key action areas to achieve this vision for traditional and complementary medicine: promoting its role for health and well-being in national policies; strengthening context-specific mechanisms to ensure the safety, quality and effectiveness of services; improving coverage and equitable access to services; and supporting documentation, research and innovation for services.