The World Health Organization’s (WHO) Second Global Summit on Traditional Medicine opens today in New Delhi, bringing together government ministers, scientists, Indigenous leaders, and practitioners from more than 100 countries, WHO announced. Jointly organized with the Government of India, the three-day summit is expected to announce major scientific initiatives and new commitments aimed at advancing the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Strategy 2025–2034, centered on stronger evidence, better regulation, systems integration, collaboration, and community engagement. Traditional medicine encompasses codified and non-codified systems that predate biomedicine and have continued evolving for contemporary use. For many people, it remains the main source of health care—locally accessible, affordable, and culturally aligned—and for many more, it’s a preferred, personalized, and more natural health option. Nearly 90% of WHO Member States report that 40–90% of their populations use traditional medicine.
“WHO is committed to uniting the wisdom of millennia with the power of modern science and technology to realise the vision of health for all,” said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “By engaging responsibly, ethically, and equitably, and by harnessing innovation from AI to genomics, we can unlock the potential of traditional medicine to deliver safer, smarter, and more sustainable health solutions for every community and for our planet.” Nearly half the global population—4.6 billion people—lack access to essential health services, while over 2 billion experience financial hardship to access health care. Integrating traditional medicine into health systems is critical to expanding access and choice to affordable, people-centered care and advancing universal health coverage, ensuring everyone can receive the health care they need without financial strain.
Emerging evidence indicates that integrating traditional medicine into health systems can deliver cost savings and improve health outcomes. Such integration emphasizes prevention and health promotion, contributing to broader health benefits such as more appropriate use of antibiotics. Achieving effective integration requires robust science, global standards for quality and safety, and strong regulatory mechanisms. “We need to apply the same scientific rigour to the assessment and validation of biomedicine and traditional medicines, while respecting biodiversity, cultural specificities and ethical principles,” said Dr. Sylvie Briand, WHO Chief Scientist. She added that stronger collaborations and frontier technologies—such as AI, genomics, systems biology, neurosciences, and advanced data analytics—can transform how traditional medicine is studied and applied.
Traditional medicine underpins fast-growing global industries, such as herbal medicines. All traditional medicine formulations, and more than half of biomedical pharmaceuticals, originate from natural resources, which remain a vital source for new drug discovery. Indigenous Peoples safeguard around 40% of the world’s biodiversity while representing just 6% of the global population. Advancing traditional medicine requires addressing Indigenous rights, fair trade, and benefit-sharing considerations. Despite its widespread use and vital role in stewarding natural resources for health and wellbeing, less than 1% of global health research funding goes to traditional medicine. To help close the knowledge and research gaps, WHO is launching the Traditional Medicine Global Library, the first of its kind, featuring more than 1.6 million scientific records spanning research, policies, regulations, and thematic collections on diverse traditional medicine applications.
Developed in response to calls by Heads of State during G20 and BRICS meetings in 2023, the Library also provides equitable online access to peer-reviewed content for institutions in lower-income countries through the Research4Life initiative. It supports countries in documenting traditional medicine with intellectual property protections and in building scientific capacity to drive innovation. “Advancing traditional medicine is an evidence-based, ethical and environmental imperative,” said Dr. Shyama Kuruvilla, Director a.i. of WHO’s Global Traditional Medicine Centre. The Summit will also announce new commitments from governments and other stakeholders, alongside a call for a global consortium to address systemic gaps and accelerate implementation of the Global Traditional Medicine Strategy at scale.
