WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine in India
Recently the WHO Global Center for Traditional Medicine (GCTM) was approved in India.
- The Union Cabinet has given its approval for the establishment of WHO-GCTM (WHO Global Center for Traditional Medicine in India) at Jamnagar, Gujarat.
- For its establishment, the Government of India and the World Health Organization have signed the “Host Country Agreement”.
- It will be set up under the Ministry of AYUSH. This will be the first and remotely located global center (office) for traditional medicine worldwide.
Benefits of GCTM
- This will help in establishing AYUSH systems on a global scale.
- This will give India an opportunity to take the lead in global health matters related to traditional medicine.
- This will ensure the quality, safety and efficacy, accessibility and rational use of traditional medicine.
- This will help in developing norms, standards, and guidelines for data based analysis and impact assessment in relevant technical areas.
- This will help in building necessary capacity and conduct training programs in relevant areas related to traditional medicine.
Other measures taken to promote traditional medicine:
- Yoga Certification Board (YCB): It has been established to bring synergy, quality and uniformity in the knowledge and skills of Yoga professionals across the world.
- AYUSH Information Cells have been established in 31 countries to disseminate authentic information about the AYUSH system.
Traditional Medicine
It refers to health practices, attitudes, knowledge and beliefs that include plants for the treatment, diagnosis and prevention or betterment of a disease, methods of spiritual healing, etc. This includes Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH) and Sowa Rigpa.
Source – The Hindu
