Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine: The Practices WHO Reports Billions Use—But Research Funding Remains Under 1%

KEY FACTS

• Billions of people worldwide rely on traditional, complementary, and integrative medicine (TCIM), with 67% of countries reporting that 40-99% of their populations use these practices
• In May 2025, the World Health Assembly formally adopted the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Strategy 2025-2034, the first comprehensive international framework addressing TCIM through scientific and regulatory lenses
• WHO’s 2024 global survey drew responses from 106 Member States—the most comprehensive overview to date of how countries integrate TCIM into health systems
• Around 40% of pharmaceutical products have origins in traditional medicine, including breakthrough drugs like artemisinin for malaria and aspirin derived from willow bark
• Despite widespread use, less than 1% of global health research funding is dedicated to traditional medicine—a funding inequity that undermines evidence-generation efforts

When India’s government committed $85 million over ten years in 2022 to establish the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Centre in Jamnagar, it marked a watershed moment for practices that billions use but mainstream medicine often dismisses. Then in November 2024, China pledged an additional $5 million over five years to support WHO’s Traditional, Complementary, and Integrative Medicine program. These investments signal recognition of a field serving populations WHO estimates number in the billions—yet receiving less than 1% of global health research funding.

In May 2025, the 78th World Health Assembly formally adopted the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Strategy 2025-2034, committing Member States to strengthen evidence, regulation, quality, and integration of TCIM into health systems worldwide. “With half the world’s population lacking access to essential health services, traditional medicine is often the closest or only care available for many people,” Dr. Shyama Kuruvilla, Director a.i. of WHO’s Global Traditional Medicine Centre, told a media briefing ahead of December 2025’s Global Summit on Traditional Medicine in New Delhi.

But here’s the tension WHO’s new strategy must navigate: traditional medicine encompasses everything from acupuncture with randomized controlled trial support for chronic pain to untested herbal remedies contaminated with heavy metals. From yoga practices with documented stress biomarker improvements to claims of miracle cures lacking any scientific basis. The challenge facing global health initiatives isn’t whether to integrate traditional medicine—billions already use it—but how to do so safely, effectively, and equitably.

This article examines WHO’s data on traditional, complementary, and integrative medicine use globally, investigates why evidence generation lags so far behind utilization, and asks whether WHO’s ambitious 2025-2034 strategy can bridge the gap between ancient practices and modern scientific standards without eroding the cultural knowledge systems that have sustained human health for millennia.

What Is Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine? — WHO’s Definition

According to WHO, traditional medicine refers to codified or non-codified systems for healthcare and wellbeing, comprising practices, skills, knowledge, and philosophies originating in different historical and cultural contexts, which are distinct from and pre-date biomedicine. The organization emphasizes that traditional medicine is deeply rooted in contextualized knowledge, cultures, histories, and natural resources, with a holistic and people-centered approach well-aligned with primary health care principles.

WHO distinguishes traditional medicine from related but distinct concepts:

Complementary medicine refers to additional healthcare practices that aren’t part of a country’s mainstream medicine. WHO reports that evidence-based complementary medicine has the potential to support mainstream medicine and more comprehensively address people’s health and wellbeing needs.

Integrative medicine represents an interdisciplinary and evidence-based approach to health and wellbeing by using a combination of biomedical and traditional and/or complementary medical knowledge, skills, and practices. The organization notes that integrative medicine aims to combine the best of both worlds based on evidence for efficacy and safety, adopting a holistic personalized approach focused on health.

The organization’s framework identifies traditional medicine systems used around the world including acupuncture, herbal medicines, indigenous traditional medicine, homeopathy, traditional Chinese medicine, naturopathy, chiropractic, osteopathy, Ayurvedic medicine, and Unani medicine. Each system has its own theoretical foundations, diagnostic methods, and therapeutic approaches.

WHO’s definition of herbal medicines deserves special attention given their widespread use. The organization defines herbal medicines as herbs, herbal materials, herbal preparations, and finished herbal products that contain as active ingredients parts of plants, other plant materials, or combinations thereof. Herbal medicine has a documented history spanning over 5,000 years—from ancient Sumerians who described medicinal plant uses, to the Ebers papyrus from 1552 BC recording Egyptian folk remedies, to Ayurvedic texts from the first millennium BC describing herbs and minerals.

Traditional medicine emphasizes nature-based remedies and holistic, personalized approaches to restore balance of mind, body, and environment. WHO contrasts this with biomedicine’s tendency to focus on disease-specific interventions rather than whole-person health.

The organization stresses a critical distinction often lost in popular discourse: traditional medicine isn’t monolithic. It encompasses formally codified systems like traditional Chinese medicine with standardized educational programs and licensure, alongside non-codified oral traditions passed through generations in indigenous communities. WHO’s definitions deliberately include both, recognizing that indigenous and ancestral knowledge continues forming a significant part of healthcare in many regions.

Global Burden — WHO’s Usage and Access Data

The scale of traditional medicine use globally far exceeds what most health policymakers recognize. According to WHO’s third global survey on TCIM conducted between April 2023 and March 2024, 67% of countries reported that 40-99% of their populations use traditional, complementary, and integrative medicine. This represents billions of people worldwide relying on these practices as part of their routine healthcare.

More than 80% of the world’s population in over 170 of WHO’s 194 Member States use traditional medicine of some form. WHO’s 2019 global report on traditional and complementary medicine documented that 170 Member States reported on use of herbal medicines, acupuncture, yoga, indigenous therapies, and other traditional medicine systems.

Geographic patterns reveal both universal appeal and regional variation. In some industrialized countries like France and Canada, TCIM usage reaches nearly half the population. Research published in PMC analyzing data from WHO’s Americas Region found that in Germany, over half of individuals surveyed in 2024 preferred an approach combining traditional medicine and conventional care. The burden of chronic noncommunicable disease has driven greater traditional medicine use, particularly where therapies like acupuncture or medicinal plants have recognized benefits in smoking cessation or cancer symptom management.

But population-level prevalence data requires nuance. The often-cited claim that “80% of people in Asian and African countries use traditional medicine for primary healthcare” originated in a 1983 WHO textbook, with original data now lost. More recent studies suggest usage varies substantially by country and is declining in some regions. Research analyzing WHO-SAGE study data from 2007-2010 found TM use was highest in India where 11.7% of people reported traditional medicine as their most frequent source of care during the previous three years, with 19.0% reporting any TM use in the previous 12 months.

Access patterns reveal traditional medicine’s critical role for underserved populations. WHO emphasizes that for millions, especially those living in remote and rural areas, traditional medicine continues being the first choice for health and wellbeing—offering care that’s culturally acceptable, available, and affordable. With half the world’s population lacking access to essential health services, traditional medicine is often the closest or only care available for many people.

Economic dimensions show traditional medicine’s growing market significance. The wellness economy associated with traditional medicine is estimated to increase from $5.6 trillion in 2022 to $8.5 trillion by 2027. Market analysis from Grand View Research found the complementary and alternative medicine market size was $222.62 billion in 2025, projected to reach $1,430.70 billion by 2033—a compound annual growth rate of 26.4%.

Age and gender patterns reveal differential usage. Women are the primary utilizers of herbal medicine globally, including during pregnancy. Evidence from Ethiopia shows herbal medicine use during pregnancy ranges from 40.6% to 73.6% depending on the region. Research finds that older adults, pregnant women, and people with chronic conditions represent particularly high-usage populations.

Socioeconomic factors influence access and choice. WHO notes that traditional medicine is perceived to be more affordable, accessible, and acceptable to communities compared to modern medicine. In low- and middle-income countries where biomedical practitioners may not be numerous enough to meet healthcare needs, traditional medicine practitioners are considered an important population health resource.

The COVID-19 pandemic affected traditional medicine access. Some countries reported increased traditional medicine use during the pandemic as people sought immune support and symptom management. Others reported decreased access as lockdowns prevented people from reaching traditional healers or obtaining herbal medicines.

Health condition patterns show traditional medicine use concentrated in certain domains. Chronic pain management, mental health and stress, digestive complaints, respiratory conditions, and preventive health represent common reasons for seeking traditional medicine care. WHO data suggests unmet healthcare needs in conventional systems drive some traditional medicine utilization.

Similar to efforts addressing ethical frameworks in integrative medicine research, WHO recognizes that understanding who uses traditional medicine, why they use it, the context of use, and treatment outcomes requires better population-based data collection. Current surveys often lack standardized questions about traditional medicine, limiting cross-country comparisons and trend analysis.

Causes, Transmission & Risk Factors — WHO’s Framework on Why People Choose TCIM

WHO’s framework for understanding traditional medicine utilization identifies multiple drivers that operate differently than infectious disease transmission or genetic risk factors. The organization emphasizes that motivations for TCIM use are complex and often related to cultural traditions, personal preferences, and perceptions of effectiveness.

Access barriers to conventional care represent a fundamental driver. WHO reports that with half the world’s population lacking access to essential health services, traditional medicine fills critical gaps. In remote and rural areas where biomedical facilities may be hours or days away, traditional healers provide proximate care. Financial barriers compound geographic ones—traditional medicine is often more affordable than biomedical services requiring expensive diagnostics and pharmaceuticals.

Cultural factors shape healthcare-seeking behavior in ways that transcend simple access calculations. WHO notes that for many, traditional medicine is a preferred choice because it’s bioculturally aligned—congruent with worldviews, spiritual beliefs, and cultural identities. The organization’s framework recognizes that health and illness within many traditional systems are virtually inseparable from ideas of religion and spirituality. Traditional healers often address not just physical symptoms but social, spiritual, and environmental dimensions of wellbeing.

Unmet needs within conventional systems drive complementary use. Research WHO cites shows that unmet healthcare needs among people receiving conventional care can motivate traditional medicine use. When biomedicine offers limited options for chronic pain, mental health conditions, or quality of life issues, patients seek additional approaches. The organization emphasizes that this doesn’t necessarily represent rejection of biomedicine but rather pursuit of more comprehensive care.

Holistic and personalized approaches appeal to patients seeking whole-person care. WHO reports that traditional medicine’s focus on supporting overall wellbeing rather than only treating specific disease symptoms resonates with people wanting greater agency and ownership of their health. The organization notes that demand for traditional medicine is growing globally as patients seek more holistic and personalized healthcare.

Chronic disease burden specifically drives TCIM utilization. WHO data shows increasing use of practices like acupuncture, herbal remedies, and mind-body therapies for conditions where conventional medicine offers symptom management but not cures: chronic pain syndromes, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer supportive care, mental health conditions, and functional disorders.

Preventive health and wellness motivations extend beyond disease treatment. WHO’s framework identifies that many traditional medicine users aren’t seeking treatment for specific ailments but rather health maintenance and disease prevention. Practices like yoga, meditation, dietary modifications, and herbal tonics are used proactively to support health.

Trust in traditional knowledge systems influences utilization patterns. Communities with strong traditional medicine cultures view these practices as tested by generations of use. WHO notes that traditional medicine is deeply rooted in contextualized knowledge passed through families and communities over centuries.

Side effect concerns about biomedical treatments motivate some traditional medicine seeking. Patients worried about pharmaceutical side effects, surgical complications, or long-term medication dependency may prefer plant-based remedies or non-invasive therapies they perceive as gentler.

Healthcare provider relationships affect utilization. WHO reports that traditional medicine reaffirms the importance of relationships between practitioners and patients. Traditional healers often have deeper community connections and spend more time with patients than rushed biomedical consultations allow.

Social determinants create systematic patterns. Lower education and income levels correlate with higher traditional medicine use in some contexts, though paradoxically wealthy educated populations in industrialized countries also show high complementary medicine utilization. Rural residence, larger family size, and agricultural livelihoods are associated with greater traditional medicine reliance.

Marketing and availability influence contemporary use. The rise of commercial herbal medicine products, wellness apps, and integrative health centers has made traditional medicine more visible and accessible in urban settings. WHO notes concerns about companies marketing traditional medicine products with unsubstantiated health claims.

Signs, Symptoms or Health Impacts — WHO’s Evidence Framework

WHO identifies both potential benefits and risks associated with traditional medicine use, emphasizing the critical need for evidence-based assessment rather than blanket acceptance or rejection.

Documented benefits WHO recognizes include contributions traditional medicine has made to pharmaceutical development. Around 40% of pharmaceutical products have origins in traditional medicine. WHO documentation highlights breakthrough examples: sweet wormwood (Artemisia annua) yielded artemisinin—the frontline treatment for malaria that has saved millions of lives. Willow bark used for 3,500 years as a pain reliever led to aspirin synthesis in 1897. Madagascar periwinkle contributed to childhood cancer medicines. The contraceptive pill derived from wild Mexican yam. Star anise provided the base for Tamiflu.

Evidence-based practices WHO supports include:

Acupuncture has been validated through randomized controlled trials for chronic pain syndromes, chemotherapy-related nausea, and certain other conditions when used alongside conventional treatment. The organization notes accumulating evidence for specific clinical applications.

Yoga and meditation show documented benefits in controlled studies for sleep quality improvement, stress biomarker reduction, mental wellbeing enhancement, and blood pressure management. WHO recognizes these practices as effective adjunctive therapies.

Certain herbal medicines demonstrate pharmacological activity validated through scientific research. WHO emphasizes that some traditional plant remedies contain active compounds with therapeutic effects comparable to or forming the basis for pharmaceutical drugs.

Mind-body practices including tai chi, qigong, and mindfulness-based interventions show evidence for pain management, mental health support, and quality of life improvements in people with chronic conditions.

But WHO also identifies serious risks and harms:

Contamination and adulteration of herbal products represents a major safety concern. The organization reports problems with heavy metal contamination, pharmaceutical drug adulteration, microbial contamination, and substitution of toxic plants for intended ingredients. Lack of quality control in herbal medicine manufacturing creates unpredictable product safety.

Drug-herb interactions can cause serious adverse events. WHO notes that many herbal medicines interact with pharmaceutical drugs, either enhancing effects (increasing bleeding risk when anticoagulants combine with certain herbs) or reducing efficacy (St. John’s wort decreasing effectiveness of oral contraceptives and some chemotherapy drugs).

Delays in effective treatment occur when people use traditional medicine for serious conditions requiring biomedical intervention. WHO documents cases where exclusive reliance on traditional medicine for conditions like cancer, diabetes, or infectious diseases led to progression and worse outcomes that timely conventional treatment might have prevented.

Unsupported efficacy claims mislead patients and waste resources. The organization emphasizes challenges in the TCIM field including unsupported claims for safety and/or efficacy that give false hope and divert people from evidence-based treatments.

Endangered species use for traditional medicine contributes to biodiversity loss and illegal wildlife trade. WHO acknowledges that traditional medicine systems in some regions use parts from slow lorises, sharks, elephants, pangolins, and other threatened species—practices the organization opposes on both conservation and ethical grounds.

Regulatory gaps enable substandard products and unqualified practitioners. WHO reports that in many countries the traditional medicine sector remains unregulated, allowing anyone to claim practitioner status and sell products without quality assurance or safety monitoring.

Lack of disclosure to healthcare providers creates risks. Research WHO cites shows that many traditional medicine users don’t disclose their use to biomedical doctors, preventing identification of contraindications or interactions.

Gender-specific impacts deserve attention. Women’s higher utilization of herbal medicine including during pregnancy creates particular safety concerns given limited research on effects during pregnancy and potential impacts on fetal development.

Economic harms occur when people spend limited resources on ineffective treatments. WHO notes that traditional medicine’s perceived affordability can be deceptive if products don’t work and people still require biomedical care afterward.

The organization emphasizes that these risks don’t inherently mean traditional medicine is harmful—rather that regulation, quality assurance, evidence generation, and integration with biomedical systems are needed to maximize benefits while minimizing harms.

Treatment or Health Response — WHO’s Integration Framework

WHO reports that current approaches for traditional medicine center on integration into health systems rather than replacement of either traditional or biomedical practices. The organization’s framework aims to harness traditional medicine’s contributions while ensuring safety, quality, and evidence-based use.

The SAFE approach WHO advocates emphasizes: Safety through regulation and quality control, Access to traditional medicine as part of the right to health for all, Funding for research and evidence generation, and Evidence-based integration into national health systems.

Regulatory frameworks WHO recommends include:

Practitioner regulation ensures traditional medicine practitioners meet minimum training standards, maintain professional conduct, practice within scope of competence, and face accountability for patient harm. WHO guidance documented in PMC research provides minimum standards but acknowledges regulation must reflect differences between formal codified practices and informal oral traditions.

Product regulation addresses herbal medicines through specific regulatory pathways. WHO reports progress in herbal medicine regulation globally, but traditional medicine products of other origin still need addressing. The organization recommends manufacturing standards, quality control testing, safety monitoring, and accurate labeling.

Practice standards define scope of practice for different traditional medicine systems, establish treatment protocols for common conditions, create referral systems for conditions requiring biomedical care, and promote collaboration between traditional and biomedical practitioners.

WHO’s Global Traditional Medicine Strategy 2025-2034 focuses on four strategic objectives:

Evidence and learning aims to strengthen research, data collection, and knowledge management. The strategy prioritizes rigorous clinical research, safety and efficacy studies, health system research on integration models, and documentation of traditional knowledge.

Safety, quality, and effectiveness seeks to establish regulatory frameworks ensuring traditional medicine products and practices meet acceptable standards. WHO emphasizes that traditional medicine should be integrated using a science-based approach.

Access and integration promotes inclusion of traditional medicine in universal health coverage. The organization advocates for traditional medicine availability in primary healthcare settings, coverage through insurance and public funding, and workforce development for both traditional and integrative practitioners.

Innovation and intellectual property addresses respectful knowledge exchange with indigenous peoples, intellectual property rights protection for traditional knowledge, benefit-sharing from commercialization of traditional medicines, and preservation of biodiversity.

Implementation approaches WHO supports include:

Academic consortia for integrative medicine have formed in several countries. Research in PMC documents that national academic consortia exist in the United States (founded in the 1990s with over 75 academic health centers), Brazil (2017), the Netherlands (2018), and Germany (2024). These institutions combine biomedical and traditional/complementary approaches based on evidence for efficacy and safety.

Dedicated facilities WHO supports include India’s experience where integrative medicine departments like the one inaugurated at Safdarjung Hospital in New Delhi provide co-located biomedical and traditional medicine services.

Digital health tools support traditional medicine integration. WHO launched the Traditional Medicine Global Library in May 2025—a searchable database containing more than 1.6 million records on traditional medicine research, policies, and regulatory frameworks. The organization also unveiled TCIM Dashboards providing real-time monitoring of national policies and regulatory frameworks.

Community health worker training incorporates traditional medicine knowledge. WHO advocates for training programs that respect both biomedical science and traditional healing systems, enabling workers to provide culturally appropriate care.

Access gaps WHO identifies include:

Geographic disparities persist even for traditional medicine. While rural communities may have local healers, quality-assured traditional medicine products and trained integrative practitioners concentrate in urban centers.

Financial barriers affect both traditional and biomedical care. WHO notes that regulation and standardization of traditional medicine can increase costs, potentially reducing accessibility for poor populations who previously relied on informal traditional healers.

Quality disparities exist between well-regulated traditional medicine in some countries versus unregulated sectors in others. WHO reports that countries like China, Japan, and South Korea have established robust traditional medicine systems integrated into healthcare, while many low-income countries lack resources for regulation and quality assurance.

Research funding inequities create evidence gaps. Despite billions using traditional medicine, less than 1% of global health research funding supports traditional medicine studies. This prevents evidence generation needed to guide safe integration.

Prevention & WHO Strategies — Public Health Policy Framework

WHO’s prevention and safety framework for traditional medicine emphasizes that integration into health systems must be evidence-based, culturally respectful, and aligned with sustainable development goals.

The WHO Global Traditional Medicine Strategy 2025-2034 represents the organization’s comprehensive policy framework. Adopted by the World Health Assembly in May 2025, the strategy envisions a world where everyone has universal access to people-centered traditional, complementary, and integrative medicine contributing to the highest attainable standard of health and wellbeing.

Nine core principles guide strategy implementation:

Evidence base: WHO emphasizes that TCIM integration must be informed by scientific evidence. The organization advocates for research using appropriate methodologies including randomized controlled trials, comparative effectiveness studies, pragmatic trials, and real-world evidence collection.

Holism and health: Traditional medicine’s holistic approach aligns with WHO’s broad definition of health as complete physical, mental, and social wellbeing—not merely absence of disease.

Sustainability and biodiversity: The strategy recognizes that many traditional medicines derive from natural resources requiring protection. WHO promotes responsible use and conservation of medicinal plants and animals.

Right to health and autonomy: Traditional medicine access represents part of the right to health for all. The organization supports patient autonomy in choosing healthcare approaches.

Indigenous Peoples’ rights, culture and health: WHO’s framework explicitly protects indigenous knowledge, requires free, prior and informed consent for traditional knowledge use, and advocates for benefit-sharing when traditional medicines are commercialized.

People-centered care and community engagement: Traditional medicine’s emphasis on therapeutic relationships and community-based care aligns with WHO’s people-centered health system vision.

Integrated health services: The organization promotes collaboration between biomedical and traditional medicine practitioners rather than competition or hierarchy.

Health equity: WHO emphasizes that traditional medicine integration should reduce rather than increase health disparities.

Innovation: The strategy encourages appropriate use of technology including artificial intelligence to study traditional medicine and digital health tools to expand access.

Key interventions WHO recommends include:

Research prioritization and increased funding in national research policies and programs. WHO’s Bulletin special issue on traditional medicine from November 2025 emphasized that less than 1% of global health research funding dedicated to traditional medicine represents an inequity undermining efforts to generate needed evidence.

Regulatory system development ensures practitioner competence and product quality. WHO guidance helps countries establish regulatory frameworks appropriate to their traditional medicine landscape.

Education and training standards ensure both traditional medicine practitioners and biomedical providers understand safe, appropriate TCIM use. The organization advocates for integrative medicine education in medical schools.

Pharmacovigilance systems monitor traditional medicine safety. WHO promotes adverse event reporting, product quality surveillance, and investigation of safety signals.

Clinical practice guidelines development provides evidence-based recommendations for specific conditions. WHO supports guideline development using GRADE methodology adapted for traditional medicine evidence.

Public education initiatives provide accurate information about traditional medicine benefits and risks. The organization emphasizes need for balanced reporting that neither dismisses traditional medicine nor promotes unsubstantiated claims.

No vaccination exists for preventing traditional medicine misuse, but WHO’s strategy aims to “inoculate” health systems against risks through regulation, quality assurance, and evidence generation.

WHO’s Global Efforts — Recent Initiatives and Editorial Analysis

WHO’s establishment of the Global Traditional Medicine Centre in Jamnagar, India, in 2022 marked a turning point in the organization’s traditional medicine strategy. Supported by India’s $85 million commitment over ten years, the Centre serves as a global hub for knowledge, innovation, and partnerships—the first WHO center dedicated to traditional medicine.

Then in November 2024, China pledged $5 million over five years to advance the upcoming WHO Traditional Medicine Strategy 2025-2034. These investments from the world’s two most populous countries, both with deep traditional medicine traditions, signal political will that has historically been absent from global health governance.

The 78th World Health Assembly’s May 2025 formal adoption of the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Strategy 2025-2034 represents the culmination of years of consultation and negotiation. WHO’s news release emphasized that the strategy commits Member States to strengthening evidence, regulation, quality, and integration of TCIM into health systems worldwide.

On the same day, WHO launched the first-ever TCIM Dashboards on May 21, 2025, featuring comprehensive global and country-level profiles. This milestone builds on insights from the Third WHO Global Survey on TCIM, conducted between April 2023 and March 2024 with responses from 106 Member States. The dashboards transform static survey data into a dynamic, real-time digital platform, empowering countries to continuously update and manage their national TCIM data.

WHO also launched the Traditional Medicine Global Library—containing more than 1.6 million scientific records on traditional medicine—and a Traditional Medicine Data Network connecting researchers globally. The organization established a Framework on Indigenous Knowledge, Biodiversity and Health to protect traditional knowledge systems.

In December 2025, WHO convened the second Global Summit on Traditional Medicine in New Delhi under the theme “Restoring balance: The science and practice of health and wellbeing.” The summit aimed to advance the Global Traditional Medicine Strategy 2025-2034 by addressing latest evidence and innovations, health systems regulation and integration, respectful information exchange with Indigenous Peoples, biodiversity preservation and intellectual property rights, and transformative potential of frontier technologies including artificial intelligence.

A new Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine (STAG-TM) was launched at the December summit, bringing scientific oversight to a field long criticized for uneven standards.

But here’s what these announcements obscure: WHO’s traditional medicine initiative faces fundamental contradictions that threaten its success.

First, the evidence-generation problem appears insurmountable given current funding levels. Less than 1% of global health research funding goes to traditional medicine despite billions of users. WHO calls for more research while offering no mechanism to dramatically increase funding. Research is expensive—rigorous trials cost millions. Traditional medicine systems encompass thousands of practices and products. Even with increased funding, generating comprehensive evidence will require decades.

Second, the regulation challenge differs fundamentally between formal and informal traditional medicine. WHO can develop standards for traditional Chinese medicine or Ayurveda where educational institutions, professional organizations, and government oversight exist. But how does the organization regulate oral traditions passed through indigenous communities? How do you create training standards for knowledge transmitted experientially over generations? WHO’s guidance acknowledges these differences but offers no practical solutions.

Third, intellectual property tensions create impossible dilemmas. Indigenous communities argue that traditional knowledge represents collective wisdom that shouldn’t be subject to individual patent claims. Pharmaceutical companies counter that drug development requires massive investment justifiable only through patent protection. WHO advocates for benefit-sharing but has no enforcement mechanism. Meanwhile, biopiracy continues—companies patent traditional medicine-derived compounds without compensating source communities.

Fourth, the biodiversity crisis threatens traditional medicine’s material foundation. Many medicinal plants face extinction from overharvesting, habitat loss, and climate change. WHO promotes sustainability but lacks authority to enforce conservation. Traditional medicine’s growing global market creates perverse incentives for unsustainable harvesting.

Fifth, quality control proves extremely difficult for traditional medicine products. Unlike pharmaceuticals manufactured in controlled facilities from purified compounds, herbal medicines are plant materials with natural variation in active ingredient content depending on growing conditions, harvest timing, processing methods, and storage. Standardization often conflicts with traditional preparation methods. WHO recommends quality control but many countries lack laboratory capacity for testing.

Sixth, the practitioner regulation problem has no easy answer. Should traditional healers require biomedical training? This seems to defeat the purpose of preserving traditional knowledge systems. Should they practice without biomedical knowledge? This creates risks when serious conditions require conventional treatment. WHO suggests “appropriate training” but doesn’t define what that means for diverse traditional medicine systems.

Seventh, integration into universal health coverage faces financial constraints. Most countries can barely fund biomedical services. Adding traditional medicine coverage requires additional resources or reallocating from other health priorities. WHO advocates for TCIM in UHC but offers no guidance on how resource-constrained countries should prioritize spending.

Eighth, evidence standards create cultural conflicts. Randomized controlled trials represent the gold standard in biomedical research but may not suit traditional medicine systems based on individualized treatment. Traditional healers argue that RCTs testing standardized interventions fundamentally misunderstand their practices. WHO acknowledges need for “appropriate methodologies” but hasn’t resolved this epistemological clash.

What should WHO do differently? Several opportunities exist for more aggressive action:

First, establish a global research fund for traditional medicine with committed multi-year financing from multiple donors. Pooled funding could support large-scale trials, safety monitoring, and systematic reviews across traditional medicine systems. Current project-by-project funding prevents sustained research programs.

Second, create tiered regulatory categories reflecting evidence levels. Products and practices with robust trial support could receive full endorsement. Those with traditional use but limited modern research could be provisionally approved with safety monitoring and ongoing evidence requirements. Unsupported practices could be restricted or banned. This would provide regulatory clarity while acknowledging evidence limitations.

Third, develop enforcement mechanisms for benefit-sharing from traditional knowledge commercialization. Perhaps a global fund where companies pay royalties on traditional medicine-derived products, with proceeds distributed to source communities and traditional medicine research. WHO currently has no power to compel this.

Fourth, invest heavily in pharmacovigilance systems specifically for traditional medicine. Most countries don’t systematically monitor traditional medicine adverse events. Creating surveillance networks would identify safety signals quickly and inform regulation.

Fifth, fund conservation programs protecting medicinal plant biodiversity. WHO could partner with environmental organizations to establish protected areas for important medicinal plants, support sustainable harvesting cooperatives, and develop cultivation programs reducing wild harvesting pressure.

Sixth, support indigenous-led research using community-based participatory approaches. Rather than imposing biomedical research paradigms on traditional knowledge, WHO should fund indigenous researchers to investigate their own healing systems using culturally appropriate methods. This respects indigenous sovereignty while generating knowledge.

Seventh, create clear scopes of practice defining what conditions traditional medicine can appropriately manage versus what requires biomedical referral. This would reduce delays in effective treatment while preserving traditional medicine’s role for suitable conditions.

The fundamental question is whether WHO’s evidence-based integration approach can succeed without destroying what makes traditional medicine valuable: its holistic orientation, cultural embeddedness, individualized approaches, and spiritual dimensions that don’t translate easily into RCT frameworks.

Perhaps WHO needs parallel tracks: rigorous scientific investigation of traditional medicine components amenable to reductionist analysis (specific herbal compounds, acupuncture mechanisms, yoga’s physiological effects) while simultaneously protecting and supporting traditional medicine systems as complete knowledge frameworks that operate by different epistemological rules.

The stakes couldn’t be higher. Billions of people rely on traditional medicine. Dismissing these practices as unscientific denies healthcare access to populations who either lack biomedical services or find them culturally inappropriate. But uncritical acceptance enables exploitation, encourages ineffective treatments, and prevents identification of genuine harms.

Traditional medicine has contributed breakthrough drugs saving millions of lives. It also includes dangerous practices that delay effective treatment and endanger species. WHO’s task is separating wheat from chaff without imposing colonial biomedical supremacy or enabling uncritical traditionalism.

The 2025-2034 strategy provides a roadmap. Whether WHO can navigate these contradictions, secure necessary funding, build regulatory systems respecting cultural diversity, generate evidence without waiting decades, and integrate traditional medicine safely into health systems remains to be seen.

For the billions who use traditional medicine—whether by necessity, preference, or cultural identity—WHO’s success or failure will determine whether their healthcare choices are supported by evidence, regulation, and safety monitoring or remain in the shadows of health systems that ignore practices serving the majority of humanity.

Frequently Asked Questions

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Sources

1. World Health Organization. WHO global report on traditional, complementary and integrative medicine 2024. Geneva: WHO; 2025. https://www.who.int/publications/b/78436
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DISCLAIMER

This article adapts publicly available information from WHO’s Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine page. This content is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. ObserverVoice.com is a news and information platform — not a healthcare provider.

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