Is Ayurveda going to be the next export item to the world after Yoga? Ayurvedic practices are known to almost every Indian, believer or not, and it is from ancient Vedas. There always have been ask of scientific proof, objective evidence gathering, for ‘accepting’ it as modern scientific enterprise. This challenge has been taken head on since setup of AYUSH Ministry. Towards this end, few years back an agreement was signed with the United States to collaborate in research to establish a role for Ayurveda and other ancient forms of medicine in the modern world. And, now comes WHO’s first Centre for traditional medicine in Gujarat, India.
Traditional medicine as what defined by WHO means, “the sum total of the knowledge, skills and practices on the basis of the theories, beliefs and experiences indigenous to different cultures, whether explicable or not, used in the maintenance of health, as well as in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of physical and mental illnesses.”
The establishment of the first and global out-posted Centre for traditional medicine in India sufficiently reflects the fact that the traditional medicines and wellness practices of India are very popular globally and this WHO Centre bound to focus on greater dissemination of ancient wisdom with modern scientific and technological research perspective at a global platform will go a long way in enhancing wellness in the society. According to the WHO data, around 80% of the world’s population is estimated to use traditional medicine to cater the world’s health-care need.
As the part of WHO’s overall traditional medicines strategy, this center will position AYUSH systems across the globe and provide leadership on global health matters pertaining to traditional medicine. It will ensure quality, safety, efficacy, accessibility and rational use of traditional medicine. It will also develop norms, standards, and guidelines in relevant technical areas, tools and methodologies for collecting data undertaking analytics, and assess impact.
India has made significant progress in the traditional medicine sector both at organisational level and gaining large scale public acceptance. And with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, Ayurveda, Yoga and other systems became an invaluable resource for the entire world in dealing the Covid-19 difficulties due to its holistic approach towards health and disease.
SHARE
