Traditional medicine and complementary/alternative medicine (TM/CAM) have been used,
through the ages, in all countries of the WHO South-East Asia Region (SEAR). Many countries
in this Region have extensive systems of TM within existing health services. In the rural areas
of countries such as India, Indonesia, Nepal and Sri Lanka, a large proportion of the population
use traditional medicines to meet their primary health care needs. Due to this long history,
the roles of TM and its practitioners have been recognized by the governments in this
Region, with national policies and regulations on TM being implemented in many of these
countries.
Governments in the South-East Asia Region are encouraging medical doctors to work
with traditional practitioners at the hospital level, and to support research on TM. For example,
in India there are 2860 hospitals providing Ayurvedic medicines. In Bhutan, in the national
health centre, patients can receive both conventional and TM treatments based on their
needs. Among the 11 Member States in SEAR, there are five with national research institutes
of TM.
Used as self-care or as an alternative form of treatment to conventional medicines, there
is a large market and demand for medicinal plants and herbal products. Many countries in
SEAR need expertise and guidance to develop national regulations and safety monitoring
systems. According to the WHO global survey on the national policy and regulation of TM,
there are three common difficulties and challenges: lack of information sharing; lack of safety
monitoring for herbal medicines; and lack of methods to evaluate their safety and efficacy.
To address the above-mentioned needs and the WHO Regional Office for South-East
Asia organized a regional workshop on the ‘Regulation of Herbal Medicines’ at Bangkok on
24–26 June 2003. The workshop was attended by 24 participants from the national drug
authorities of 10 countries and 2 observers each from 9 of the 11 Member Countries of
SEAR. Dr Xiaorui Zhang, Coordinator of Traditional Medicine at WHO/HQ and Dr K.
Weerasuriya, Regional Adviser, Essential Drugs and Medicines Policy, SEARO also attended
the workshop