Cabinet approves establishment of WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine in India

The Union Cabinet has approved the establishment of the WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine (WHO GCTM) in Jamnagar, Gujarat by signing a host country agreement between the Government of India and the World Health Organization (WHO).

The WHO GCTM will be established in Jamnagar under the Ministry of AYUSH. This would be the first and only global outposted centre (office) for traditional medicine across the globe.

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghbereyesus, Director General, World Health Organization (WHO) announced the establishment of WHO GCTM in India on the occasion of fifth Ayurveda Day on 13th November, 2020, in the presence of the Prime Minister of India. The Prime Minister praised this initiative of WHO and mentioned that WHO GCTM would emerge as a centre of global wellness, bolster evidence-based research, training and awareness for traditional medicine.

A Joint Task Force (JTF) is constituted for coordination, execution and monitoring of activities for the establishment of this centre. JTF comprises representatives from the Government of India, Permanent Mission of India, Geneva and WHO. Under the ambit of this, an interim office is being established at the ITRA, Jamnagar, Gujarat to execute the identified technical activities and planning of fully functional WHO GCTM.

The interim office is intended to deliver broadly on generation of evidence and innovation, Artificial Intelligence (AI)-based solutions for traditional medicine, systematic reviews in collaboration with Cochrane, global survey on traditional medicine data across WHO GPW 13 (Thirteenth General Programme of Work 2019-2023) and sustainable development goals, traditional medicine socio-cultural and biodiversity heritage with a forward-looking approach to sustainable development and management and cross-cutting functions, business operations and administrative processes for the establishment of main office of WHO GCTM.

The WHO GCTM would provide leadership on all global health matters related to traditional medicine as well as extend support to member countries in shaping various policies related to traditional medicine research, practices and public health.

The Ministry of AYUSH has collaborated with WHO on many fronts, including developing benchmarks documents on training and practice of Ayurveda and Unani System, introducing a second module in the Traditional Medicine Chapter of the International classification of Diseases-11, developing apps like M-yoga, supporting the work of International Pharmacopeia of Herbal Medicine (IPHM) and other research studies, etc.