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ESSENTIAL DRUGS MONITOR
NEWSDESK
Shared agendas in traditional and complementary medicine
N May 2002, Dr Xiaorui Zhang, head of WHO’s global traditional medicine programme, witnessed the culmination of several years work in traditional medicine – the presentation of WHO’s Traditional Medicine Strategy to the World Health Assembly. The strategy was received enthusiastically by numerous countries and received wide coverage in the international press. At the 2003 World Health Assembly, the strategy was endorsed and resolution WHA56R31 adopted – representing a major step forward for WHO’s work in this area. During the week of the Assembly, Dr Zhang attended the launch of Setting the Agenda for the Future, the new strategy of The Prince of Wales’s Foundation for Integrated Health. The Foundation aims to facilitate the development and delivery of integrated health care by encouraging conventional and complementary practitioners to work together to integrate their approaches. The idea is that patients will then be able to meet their health needs by selecting from a wider range of health care. The strategies of the two organizations share objectives relating to access, evaluation, regulation, and education and training. WHO and the Foundation are now working together to pool expertise and resources on a number of projects relating to training and regulation. WHO’s Dr Xiaorui Zhang meeting with His Royal Talking with Dr Zhang, His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales in London Highness the Prince of Wales expressed his belief that integration of conventional and complementary health care will depend very much on conventionally-trained doctors being given the opportunity to observe and experience the practice of traditional and complementary medicine. ❏
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Issue No. 33, 2003
Photo: George Bodnar Productions