What Is Traditional Medicine?
Cultivating medicinal plants, Ethiopia
© WHO/P. Virot
NCCAM recently funded two international research centers to study traditional medicine and CAM. But what is traditional medicine? The World Health Organization (WHO) defines it as "health practices, approaches, knowledge, and beliefs incorporating plant-, animal-, and mineral-based medicines, spiritual therapies, manual techniques, and exercises, applied singularly or in combination to treat, diagnose, and prevent illnesses or maintain well-being." Traditional medicine has maintained its popularity in all regions of the developing world, and its use is growing in industrialized countries (where adaptations of it are called CAM).
Here are some facts about the global use of traditional medicine:
- Over one-third of the population in developing countries lacks access to essential medicines.
- Countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America use traditional medicine to help meet some of their primary health care needs.
- In Africa, up to 80 percent of the population uses traditional medicine for primary health care.
- In Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, and Zambia, the first line of treatment for 60 percent of children with high fever from malaria is the use of herbal medicines at home.
- In San Francisco, London, and South Africa, 75 percent of people living with HIV/AIDS use traditional medicine and/or CAM.
- In China, traditional herbal preparations account for 30 to 50 percent of the total consumption of medicines.
- Twenty-five percent of modern medicines are made from plants that were first used traditionally.
- Unregulated or inappropriate use of traditional medicines and practices can have negative or dangerous effects. For example, the herb ma huang (ephedra) was marketed as a dietary aid; overdosages led to at least a dozen deaths, heart attacks, and strokes.
There is concern that a growing herbal market and its commercial benefit might pose a threat to biodiversity (the variety and abundance of life on our planet) through overharvesting (if not controlled) of the raw material for herbal medicines and other natural health care products.
Source: World Health Organization, adapted and reprinted by permission. NCCAM is a WHO Collaborating Center for Traditional Medicine.
