WHO releases document on Gujarat traditional medicine summit

The World Health Organization (WHO) has released the outcome document of first WHO Traditional Medicine Global

Summit 2023 in the form of ‘Gujarat Declaration.’

The declaration reaffirmed global commitments towards indigenous knowledge, biodiversity and traditional, complementary and integrative medicine, an Ayush ministry statement said.  

The 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 personalised approaches for health and well-being for all.  

The body in the statement reiterated that India as host of the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Centre in Jamnagar, Gujarat has an important role in scaling up WHO’s capacities to support member states and stakeholders in taking forward the summit action agenda and other relevant priorities. 

The action points of the two-day WHO Traditional Medicine Global Summit 2023 held in Gandhinagar, Gujarat are based on the evidence, discussions and outcomes presented at the Summit, the statement said.  

Deliberations 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 and routine information systems, digital health frontiers, biodiversity and sustainability, human rights, equity and ethics, the statement said.

The 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 and all health-related sustainable development goals.

The First global summit on Traditional Medicine was organised by the World Health Organization (WHO) and co-hosted by the Ministry of Ayush, from August 17-18, 2023, in Gandhinagar, Gujarat.