New Delhi: Union Minister of Ayush Sarbananda Sonowal, on Monday, said the inaugural Global Summit on Traditional Medicine, organized by the World Health Organization and co-hosted by the Ministry of Ayush, in Gandhinagar, has marked a significant milestone in multiple dimensions.
He mentioned, “The World Health Organization will soon unveil the primary results of the international summit through the Gujarat declaration. During the summit, the WHO also presented the preliminary findings of the global survey on Traditional Medicine, underscoring a noticeable increase in the global adoption of traditional medicine practices. The WHO anticipates the conclusive survey to be published this November.”
Interacting with the mediapersons, the Union Minister said the Gujarat Declaration will soon be made public by the WHO. “Gujarat Declaration will emphasise that the importance of traditional medicine is recognised for the attainment of UHC and WHO’s commitment to work toward it through evidence generation and policy support to member states”, the Minister reiterated.
Talking about the increasing acceptance of traditional medicine worldwide, Sonowal said that initial findings of the latest Global Survey on Traditional Medicine by World Health Organisation were also placed before the summit participants and were deliberated upon. He added that the final survey will be released in November this year. “Initial findings of this survey tell us that 97 out of 157 member states of WHO have national policies regarding traditional medicine,” he informed.
Sonowal elaborated on the Ministry of Ayush efforts on expanding the scope and work of Indian Systems of Traditional Medicine and said that five bilateral meets with Nepal, Malaysia, Qatar, Venezuela and Cuba proved very successful. “India has invited all the countries involved in the bilateral meet to share best practices and benefits from the work going on in India in the field of traditional medicine. These bilateral meetings have provided an opportunity for renewing ties, and also exploring various initiatives for research, practices, education and training in the field of Ayurveda and other Traditional Medicine system,” he added.
The minister conveyed that the inaugural World Health Organization Global Summit on Traditional Medicine will stand out for the resolute dedication and foresight of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. “This commitment led to the establishment of the pioneering Global Centre of Traditional Medicine in Jamnagar, Gujarat. Subsequently, India also hosted the historic first-ever Global Summit on Traditional Medicine. The significance of this summit becomes evident considering that its outcomes will play a pivotal role in defining the operational framework of the Global Centre of Traditional Medicine. Furthermore, these outcomes will be integral to shaping the World Health Organization’s strategic roadmap for Traditional Medicine for the period 2025-2034,” he said.
The Union Minister also talked about emerging fields in traditional medicine and said, “Digital Health Services are in demand globally, and there is tremendous potential in Traditional Medicine to provide evidence-based health services to the entire mankind These were discussed in detail in this Summit and in coming days lot of important work will happen through Global Centre of Traditional Medicine of Jamnagar.”
Addressing the mediapersons, the Union Minister said the Summit gained another advantage as it was held on the sidelines of G20 Health Ministers meet and thereby provided the opportunity to the Health Ministers of various countries to have discourse on traditional medicine on G20 platform. “The outcome of the Health Ministers Meeting of G20 countries is also strongly indicative of the commitment of member countries for the use of scientific and evidence-based Traditional Medicine for Universal Health Coverage,” he said.