Your Excellency, Vice Premier Liu Guozhong; Your Excellency Yin Li; Honourable Minister Dr Lei Haichao; excellencies; dear colleagues; and friends, good morning! Zaoshang hao!
First, I would like to congratulate the National Health Commission of China, the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and the Beijing Municipal Government for convening with the World Health Organization this 2024 World Conference on Traditional Medicine.
China has been pivotal in advancing the global traditional medicine agenda. It is fitting that this World Conference on Traditional Medicine coincides with the development of the WHO Traditional Medicine Strategy 2025-2034, which will chart the course for advancing traditional medicine globally over the next decade.
Traditional Chinese Medicine has made a significant contribution to health globally. The discovery of artemisinin by Chinese scientist and Nobel Laureate Professor Tu Youyou and her team in the 1970s has had a profound impact on public health, with millions of lives saved through effective treatment of malaria. We are proud that China and this region has contributed so much to public health.
The theme of this conference is ‘Diversity, Inheritance and Innovation – Traditional Medicine for all’.
Traditional medicine is practiced in many countries around the world, especially here in the Western Pacific Region. For millions of people, it is often the only or preferred option for health care.
Whether codified in ancient scripts or passed on in the oral traditions of the knowledge holders, traditional medicine is deeply rooted in culture, history, and identity.
In my own country, Tonga, we use faito’o fakatonga – traditional Tongan medicine. As a young boy, whenever I got a cough or a cold, my mother would prepare traditional remedies to soothe my sore throat and help me to feel better. Traditional medicine is part of our culture and heritage.
In our complex and rapidly changing world, alienation from culture and traditions is making it harder for some communities to address the issues that drive ill health. That’s one of the reasons our recently endorsed vision, "Weaving health for Families, Communities, and Societies", places an emphasis on going back to our roots and re-connecting to our societal networks to improve health.
The 2018 Declaration of Astana emphasizes the importance of primary health care in achieving universal health coverage and health-related Sustainable Development Goals. It also recognizes the contribution of traditional knowledge in strengthening primary health care and supports the use of evidence-based traditional medicines.
In some countries, traditional medicine is already well integrated into health systems through national policies and regulatory frameworks for traditional medicine products, practices and practitioners. In others, traditional medicine exists entirely outside the formal health system.
To harness the contribution of traditional and complementary medicine for health and well-being, especially for the prevention of noncommunicable diseases and to promote healthy ageing, there is a need to strengthen its integration in primary health care.
In the Western Pacific Region, WHO is supporting countries to integrate traditional and complementary medicine through implementation of the Regional Framework. This framework identifies four strategic actions:
First, defining traditional and complementary medicine in national policies;
Second, strengthening context-specific mechanisms to ensure quality, safety, and effectiveness of traditional and complementary medicine;
Third, improving coverage and equitable access to safe and effective traditional and complementary medicine services; and,
Fourth, promoting documentation, research, and innovation.
However, to achieve greater integration, there is a need to establish the evidence base to inform policy and develop contextualized regulatory frameworks for traditional and complementary medicine products, practices, and practitioners.
In our recent Regional Member State Consultation on traditional medicine, countries highlighted a need to develop evidence-based clinical pathways for integrating traditional and complementary medicine in primary health care.
Countries also requested greater emphasis on knowledge exchange and developing research capacity to support documentation, research and innovation, so that traditional medicine can be appropriately harnessed and contribute to achieving universal health coverage through primary health care.
It is my sincere hope that this conference will foster stronger collaborations between policymakers and researchers, identify innovative and evidence-based practices in traditional medicine, and lead to greater integration of good quality, safe, effective, and affordable traditional medicine practices in global health systems to benefit all.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for allowing me to join you for this important conference, and all the best in the coming sessions. Xiexie.