World Health Organization (WHO) has released the outcome document of first WHO Traditional Medicine Global Summit 2023 in form of “Gujarat Declaration”.
It is worth noting that first global summit on Traditional Medicine was organised by the WHO and co-hosted by the Ministry of Ayush, from August 17-18, 2023, at Gandhinagar, Gujarat.
The action points are based on the evidence, discussions and outcomes presented at the Summit. Deliberation were done on varied topics like Health and well-being of people and the planet, research and evidence, universal health coverage, primary health care and health systems, Data & routine information systems, digital health frontiers, biodiversity and sustainability, human rights, equity and ethics.
The declaration reaffirmed global commitments towards indigenous knowledges, biodiversity and traditional, complementary and integrative medicine. WHO underlined that the application of rigorous scientific methods is needed to better understand, assess and, where appropriate, apply more holistic, context-specific, complex and personalized approaches for health and well-being for all.
Union Minister of Ayush, Sarbananda Sonowal highlighted that Gujarat declaration is testimony of our Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment to promote our ancient knowledge of Traditional Medicine system. Through collaborative efforts and sustainable practices, we can ensure a healthier future for generations to come.
Gujarat declaration talks about scaling up efforts to further implement evidence-based TCIM (Traditional complimentary integrative medicine) interventions and approaches in support of the goal of universal health coverage (UHC) and all health-related Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It states the role of multi-regional, multi-disciplinary and multi-stakeholder collaborations demonstrated at the Global.
The highlight of summit was how to enable the appropriate development and application of digital health technologies, and artificial intelligence (AI) in particular, to advance digital health resources on TCIM for people’s health and well-being.