Kem chho badhaa? Majaa ma.? Ahi gujarat aavi ne mane bahu majaa aavi. (How are you all? All is well? I am glad to be here in Gujarat.)
Thank you. Namaste.
Your Excellency, Prime Minister Narendra Modi,
Your Excellency, Prime Minister Pravind Kumar Jugnauth,
Honourable Cabinet Ministers and Ministers of State,
Excellencies, distinguished guests, dear colleagues and friends,
Before I start, I should say that I have a special connection with India.
I was taught by teachers from India in my high school years, and later in university, when I studied biology.
And in fact, I learned about traditional medicine in India from an early age, through those teachers of mine in India. So, the WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine is not a coincidence.
My Indian teachers taught me well also about traditional medicine and I am very grateful to them.
By the way, I also grew up watching Bollywood films. And I understand that the Swiss Alps are a favourite destination for Bollywood fans. And the first film which I remember and which probably affected me like the Indian teachers of mine was Mama India.
The WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine that we are launching will help to harness the power of science to strengthen the evidence base for traditional medicine.
I’m grateful to Prime Minister Modi and to the Government of India for their leadership in supporting this important initiative, and the investment of US$ 250 million to establish the Centre with an interim office, new location and building, and a 10-year commitment for operating costs.
From the day I spoke with Excellency Prime Minister Modi, his commitment was amazing and I knew that this center would be in good hands, and that is what we are seeing. So thank you so much for your leadership, Your Excellency.
This is a truly global project. 107 WHO Member States have national governmental offices for traditional and complimentary medicine. So, this will mean that India will go to the world, and the whole world will come to India.
Examples of traditional medicines being turned into modern medicines abound around the world, from throughout India with such products as turmeric, neem and jamun, and from indigenous communities in Brazil to the Kalahari desert.
But when it comes to how these products are identified, developed, and tested, and how the benefits are shared with the communities that nurtured them — on that, there is still much work to be done.
Today marks a critical step in helping to bring the promise of traditional medicine to fruition, to the benefit of people around the globe.
Helping to ensure that all people have access to safe and effective treatment is an essential part of WHO’s mission.
For many millions of people around the world, traditional medicine is the first port of call to treat many diseases.
The new Centre will complement WHO’s work on traditional medicine in headquarters, regional and country offices.
It will focus on evidence, data, sustainability and innovation to support national policies and optimise the use of traditional medicine for health and wellbeing all over the world.
Because traditional medicine is tied to the Earth, and the communities that have nurtured it, critical to the Centre’s mission will be sustainability and equity, and the importance of respecting local resources and rights, including sharing intellectual property.
The Centre’s five main areas of work are:
First, leadership and partnership, in working with our global networks to support countries’ research priorities for traditional medicine;
Second, evidence and learning, as we expand the knowledge base on traditional medicine, including with clinical trials, and new holistic research methods appropriate to traditional medicine;
Third, data and analytics. The 11th revision of the International Classification of Diseases by WHO will help to establish reliable data on the use of traditional medicine, with the inclusion in WHO global surveys, including at the household level;
Fourth: sustainability and equity, for biodiversity, sociocultural resources, intellectual property and other issues;
And fifth, innovation and technology, including an artificial intelligence project which has already started global mapping of patents and research, as well as links to the new WHO Innovation Hub.
At WHO, universal health coverage is a top priority.
At the same time, we recognize that countries face many challenges to provide essential health services for all people in a sustainable way.
Traditional medicine has been an integral resource for health for centuries in communities around the world.
It is still a mainstay for some with inequities in access to conventional medicine, but also because of their trust in traditional holistic knowledge, practices and resources.
WHO’s Traditional Medicine Strategy aims to help countries develop policies and plans to strengthen the role of traditional medicine, based on solid scientific evidence.
Where appropriate, countries can integrate traditional medicine into modern health systems, especially at the primary health care level, and to promote its use by individuals and communities in holistic efforts to promote wellbeing.
I know that India offers its citizens regulated services of Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa Rigpa, and Homeopathy.
And the health work force of registered Ayush practitioners is more than 800,000, which is almost equivalent to that of conventional medical practitioners.
WHO is now working with the government of India, as well as several other Member States, to study how this integrated approach has worked, including in health emergencies.
In an ideal world, traditional medicine would be an option – a choice –offered by a well-functioning, people-centred health system that balances curative services with preventive care in harmony with natural environments.
In fact, the 2018 Declaration of Astana on primary health care took traditional medicine into account, and it can help countries on their path to universal health coverage.
Improving equitable access to safe, quality and effective traditional and complimentary medicine services can both help to meet communities’ needs and help to build culturally and environmentally sensitive primary health care.
Traditional medicine is also part of the growing trillion-dollar global health, wellness, beauty, and pharmaceutical industries.
Over 40% of pharmaceutical formulations are based on natural products, highlighting the vital importance of conserving biodiversity and sustainability.
In fact, the discovery of aspirin drew on traditional medicine formulations using the bark of the willow tree, the contraceptive pill was developed from the roots of wild yam plants and child cancer treatments have been based on the rosy periwinkle.
And Nobel-prize winning research on artemisinin for malaria control started with a review of ancient Chinese medicine.
WHO’s COVID-19 research database has over 2500 citations of traditional medicine, and traditional medicine publications are among the top 5 most downloaded on the WHO website.
Today, traditional medicine faces challenges with regulatory issues, such as the lack of systematic data and evidence, insufficient financial support for research, and not enough mechanisms to monitor the safety of traditional medicine practice.
So, as yet, the contribution of traditional medicine to national health systems is not yet fully realized. This new Global Centre for Traditional Medicine will be a powerful vehicle for taking this journey forward.
So, let me leave you with four priorities for going forward:
First, for governments, academics and practitioners around the world to engage with the WHO Global Center for Traditional Medicine to share knowledge and research from your own countries so that it can benefit the whole world;
Second, to open health systems to relevant traditional and complimentary medicine, so that people have a choice to access services for their health and well-being in a way they find most acceptable and accessible;
Third, for innovators, industry, and governments, to develop traditional medicines in a sustainable, environmentally sensitive, and equitable manner;
And fourth, to make sure that the communities which nurtured the traditional medicines also benefit from their development, including through sharing the fruits of intellectual property.
I look forward to our continuing collaboration through the WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine, and to realizing the fruits of its work with global public goods that can be of benefit to all.
Finally, before I end, I would like to close by again appreciating His Excellency the Prime Minister, who from the start, from Day 1, has given it all he can, and I know that his center, as I said early, is in good hands, because I have seen the commitment in him and not only in him but at all levels.
So, thank you so much for agreeing to host this center, and as I said earlier, the world will come to India, to Jamnagar, and Jamnagar will also go to the world through traditional medicine. I hope that this will be one of the important things that will bring the world together because it will have training components, it will have research components and other things that will advance traditional medicine.
Then, maybe to my teachers, in respect of them, I will say a bit in Hindi: Namaste, may ya-ha ah-car bah-hoot kush hoo. (Namaste, I am happy to be here.)
Mary India kay guru-janon nay, paar-am-parik chik-itsa ka pari-chay kee-ya high. (My Indian teachers taught me well also about traditional medicine. I am grateful to them.)
I hope I said it well. This is my respect to all Indian teachers who have taught me and who influenced me, to express my greatest respect and appreciation.
And really glad to start this partnership with India also, very important initiative, that I believe will be a success.
Aa-ve-jo.
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