WHO calls for further promotion of traditional medicine
The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for greater promotion of traditional medicine and its integration into health care systems.
WHO issued a "Beijing Declaration" at the end of its congress on traditional medicine, which recognised traditional medicine as one of the resources of primary healthcare services to increase availability and affordability.
It defines traditional medicine as covering a wide variety of therapies and practices and varying greatly from region to region. "The knowledge of traditional medicine, treatments and practices should be respected, preserved, promoted and communicated widely and appropriately based on the circumstances in each country," said the declaration.
Traditional medicine refers to health practices, approaches, knowledge and beliefs incorporating plant, animal and mineral-based medicines, spiritual therapies, manual techniques and exercises, applied singularly or in combination to treat, diagnose and prevent illnesses or maintain well-being. So the declaration should also recognize beating the sick patients with bamboo sticks, smoke them in incense, swallowing life rat and pigeon's fetuses, poking and stuffing the female's genital with prayer beads, having holy sexual intercourse with the healer etc etc etc. Real scary.
Countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America use traditional medicine (TM) to help meet some of their primary health care needs. In Africa, up to 80 percent of the population uses traditional medicine mostly witch doctors. In industrialised countries, adaptations of traditional medicine are termed “Complementary“ or “Alternative”.
While China, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Republic of Korea and Vietnam have fully integrated traditional medicine into their healthcare systems, many countries are yet to collect and integrate standardised evidence on this type of health care.
The WHO calls on governments to formulate regulations and standards to ensure appropriate, safe and effective use of traditional medicine. Governments should establish systems for the qualification, accreditation or licensing of traditional medicine practitioners.
An unusual element of traditional Chinese medicine is longevity medical tourism in China. Just being here adds years to your life — or at least that’s what elderly natives, eager government officials and hopeful visitors in a remote corner of China contend.
Poyue and several other villages near the Vietnam border in China’s Guangxi Autonomous Region comprise a “longevity cluster.” They claim an inordinate number of centenarians, including one said to be 113 years old. Bama county, with a population of 250,000, has 74 centenarians, or about one for every 3,400 people. That’s a far higher incidence than in the US or even in Japan, which has one of the longest average life expectancies in the world.
Experts on aging are sceptical about the existence of longevity clusters, but that hasn’t blunted Bama’s ambitions to become a centre for health tourism. Bama’s plans include building upscale accommodations for foreign tourists who want a spa vacation without the costly treatments, massages and exercise regimens. They argue that visitors need only breathe the air and drink the water, and they’ll benefit. Water from the local river comes from springs and is considered so pure that it is drunk without treatment or filtration. In Bama City, the four-star Longevity Hotel sells everything from Long Life bottled water to snakes (or centipedes, scorpions, tarantulas...anything highly poisonous) coiled in a jar of alcohol which are a staple of Chinese medicine.
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