First global summit on traditional medicine to be held in Gandhinagar

The Union Ministry of Ayush and the World Health Organization (WHO) will jointly organise the first global summit on traditional medicine on 17-18 August in Gujarat’s capital Gandhinagar.

The first global summit on traditional medicine will be inaugurated by WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in the presence of Union Health Minister Mansukh Mandaviya and Ayush Minister Sarbananda Sonowal. 

The event will also be attended by G20 health ministers and regional directors of WHO. Eminent invitees from countries across WHO's six regions are expected to attend along with scientists, practitioners of traditional medicine, health workers and members of civil society organisations.

World's first and only WHO's Global Centre for Traditional Medicine (GCTM) is being set up in Jamnagar, Gujarat . It is being set up jointly by the government of India and the WHO. The  WHO's Global Centre for Traditional Medicine  is under the Union Ministry of Ayush.

What is Traditional Medicine?

• According to the WHO, Traditional medicine is the sum total of the knowledge, skill, and practices based on the theories, beliefs, and experiences indigenous to different cultures, used in the maintenance of health as well as in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of physical and mental illness.

AYUSH (Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, Homeopathy):

• The Ministry of AYUSH was set up on the 9th of November 2014 to revive  the knowledge of traditional Indian systems of medicine. 

• It focuses on education and research in the fields of Ayurveda, Yoga Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, and Homeopathy. 

• Minister of AYUSH: Sarbananda Sonowal

World Health Organisation (WHO):

• The World Health Organisation is a specialised agency of the United Nations which was founded on 7 April , 1948.

• Every year 7 April is celebrated as “World Health Day”.

• Headquarters of WHO : Geneva ,Switzerland 

• Director General of WHO :  Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus of Ethiopia .