{"id":1269,"date":"2025-12-17T08:03:42","date_gmt":"2025-12-17T08:03:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.brhrd.be\/?p=1269"},"modified":"2025-12-20T08:10:59","modified_gmt":"2025-12-20T08:10:59","slug":"can-traditional-medicine-strengthen-modern-healthcare-an-expert-perspective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.brhrd.be\/?p=1269","title":{"rendered":"Can Traditional Medicine Strengthen Modern Healthcare? An Expert Perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Traditional remedies such as <strong>ginger and cinnamon<\/strong> are gaining renewed global attention\u2014not just as culinary ingredients, but as <strong>evidence-based therapeutic tools<\/strong>. This growing interest is at the heart of discussions taking place at the <strong>second World Health Organization summit on Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine (TCIM)<\/strong>, held in India this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite the fact that <strong>40\u201390% of people worldwide<\/strong> rely on traditional medicine in some form, less than <strong>1% of global health research funding<\/strong> is currently dedicated to studying it. Significant regional gaps also persist, with many countries still lacking national policies governing TCIM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To explore why this gap exists\u2014and whether traditional medicine can meaningfully complement modern healthcare\u2014<strong>UN News<\/strong> spoke with <strong>Rabinarayan Acharya<\/strong>, Director General of India\u2019s <strong>Central Council for Research in Ayurvedic Sciences (CCRAS)<\/strong>, a key partner of the <strong>World Health Organization<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Ayurveda: More Than a Treatment<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Acharya, Ayurveda is <strong>both a medical system and a way of life<\/strong>. Rooted in lifestyle balance, diet, and ethical conduct, it prioritizes <strong>disease prevention, healthy ageing, and long-term wellbeing<\/strong>, rather than focusing solely on symptom treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This holistic approach, he notes, aligns closely with modern public-health goals\u2014particularly in addressing <strong>non-communicable diseases<\/strong>, which are often driven by modifiable factors such as poor diet, stress, inactivity, and environmental exposure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Why the Evidence Gap Exists<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Acharya explains that limited funding for traditional medicine research stems not from lack of relevance, but from <strong>methodological challenges<\/strong>. Systems like Ayurveda are <strong>complex and individualized<\/strong>, making them difficult to study using conventional biomedical research models.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To address this, CCRAS conducts <strong>rigorous clinical and public-health research<\/strong> that integrates classical Ayurvedic principles with modern scientific and ethical standards\u2014covering drug development, medicinal plants, epidemiology, and health-systems research.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>WHO\u2019s Strategy for Integration<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The WHO\u2019s <strong>Global Traditional Medicine Strategy 2025\u20132034<\/strong> aims to strengthen the <strong>evidence base, safety, effectiveness, and responsible integration<\/strong> of traditional medicine into national health systems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Acharya emphasizes that progress will require:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Sustained investment in high-quality research<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Evidence-informed integration into health policy<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Recognition of traditional medicine as a <strong>complement<\/strong>, not a replacement, to conventional care<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Evidence-Based Examples<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>One promising example is <strong>Withania somnifera (Ashwagandha)<\/strong>, long used in Ayurveda as an adaptogen. Clinical studies suggest it may help <strong>reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression<\/strong>, while remaining generally safe and well tolerated\u2014highlighting its potential role in <strong>mental-health care<\/strong> when used responsibly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Cautious Optimism for the Future<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>As health systems worldwide face mounting pressure from ageing populations, chronic disease, and limited resources, Acharya expresses <strong>measured optimism<\/strong> that more countries will integrate validated traditional medicine practices into their healthcare frameworks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cIntegration does not mean replacement,\u201d he notes, \u201cbut alignment with public-health priorities where evidence supports it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Traditional remedies such as ginger and cinnamon are gaining renewed global attention\u2014not just as culinary ingredients, but as evidence-based therapeutic tools. This growing interest is at the heart of discussions taking place at the second World Health Organization summit on Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine (TCIM), held in India this week. Despite the fact that [&hellip;]\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1271,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[68],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-topics"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Can Traditional Medicine Strengthen Modern Healthcare? 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