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Dr Geetha Krishnan Gopalakrishna Pillai, Unit Head at the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Centre
Traditional medicine researchers, policymakers and public health experts recently gathered in Cape Town, South Africa, at the World Congress on Public Health (WCPH). The workshop examined the contribution of traditional medicine to public health through the implementation of the recently adopted WHO Global Traditional Medicine Strategy 2025–2034. The session, Traditional Medicine and Public Health: Preparing for System-Wide Change, highlighted the growing role of traditional, complementary and integrative medicine (TCIM) in advancing evidence-informed, people-centred care.
Opening the workshop, Dr Geetha Krishnan Gopalakrishna Pillai from the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Centre outlined the evolution of WHO's work on traditional medicine and the significance of the World Health Assembly's adoption of the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Strategy. He emphasized that strengthening the evidence base for TCIM is foundational to achieving the strategy's broader goals of safe use, effective regulation, integration into health systems and community empowerment.
Participants heard that traditional medicine is already a public health reality for billions of people worldwide, with most WHO Member States reporting its use. At the same time, speakers noted a substantial gap between the scale of use and the level of research investment, underscoring the need for stronger evidence to inform policy and practice.
Amie Steel, Professor of Public Health at the Australian Research Consortium in Complementary and Integrative Medicine within the National Centre for Naturopathic Medicine at Southern Cross University, presented findings from the WHO global traditional medicine research priority-setting exercise, one of the largest assessments of the TCIM research landscape undertaken to date. The process engaged experts and stakeholders from around the world to identify key research priorities and areas where investment could generate the greatest public health impact.
The analysis highlighted significant gaps between current research activity and global health needs. Priority areas identified included mental health, stroke, pain management, musculoskeletal conditions, cancer, metabolic disorders and reproductive health, alongside cross-cutting issues such as climate resilience, antimicrobial resistance and the governance of artificial intelligence.
Professor Ossy Kasilo, a Tanzanian pharmacist, clinical pharmacologist and global health policy expert and former adviser on traditional medicine in the WHO African Region, focused on the role of regulation in ensuring the safety, quality and accountability of traditional medicine products and practitioners. Drawing on experiences from across Africa, she described progress made in establishing legal and institutional frameworks while emphasizing the need to strengthen implementation, quality assurance, pharmacovigilance and collaboration between traditional and conventional health practitioners.
Dr Hiba Boujnah, Head of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Traditional, Integrative and Preventive Medicine at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, discussed the importance of partnerships in translating global strategies into action. Her presentation explored how collaboration across sectors including health, education, culture, environment and research should and can work together to help generate evidence, protect traditional knowledge and support informed decision-making by communities towards shaping a wholistic health-care system that leaves no one behind.
The session reinforced the message that traditional medicine can no longer stand as a peripheral issue for public health, and that it remains the first point of care for many. As countries work to implement the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Strategy, public health professionals will play an increasingly important role in ensuring that traditional medicine is integrated into health systems in ways that are safe, evidence-informed and responsive to population health needs.
