AYUSH Ministry to host WHO meetings on developing standardised terminologies and Benchmarks Documents of Practice for Traditional Medicine

The Ministry of AYUSH is hosting two important World Health Organization (WHO) meetings during the last week of November and first week of December 2019 at the Institute of Post Graduate Teaching and Research in Ayurveda (IPGT & RA), Jamnagar, Gujarat and Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga & Naturopathy, New Delhi.

The WHO – International Experts Consultation Meeting (IECM), to be held from 26th to 29th November 2019, shall host 51 selected international experts (from all six WHO regions) of Ayurveda, Unani and Panchakarma, as well as traditional medicine practitioners, researchers, health policy makers, regulators and administrators.

The WHO Working Group Meeting (WGM), to be held from 2nd to 4th December, 2019, shall host 42 selected international experts (from all six WHO regions) of Traditional Medicine literary research, and other related academics, including different language experts (Sanskrit, Arabic, Persian, Urdu, and Tamil) with specific knowledge and considerable experience in working in the area of Traditional Medicine languages and scripts.

WHO is developing Benchmarks Document for Practice of Ayurveda, Panchakarma & Unani and International Terminologies Documents in Ayurveda, Siddha & Unani as part of its global strategy to strengthen the quality, safety and effectiveness of Traditional and Complementary Medicine (T&CM). Development of this benchmarks document is included in the Project Collaboration Agreement (PCA) signed between WHO and Ministry of AYUSH, Government of India, on Cooperation in the field of Traditional and Complementary Medicine under WHO strategy on T&CM covering the period 2014-2023.

The consultation meeting of international experts (IECM) on the benchmarks for practice is a continuation of the Working Group Meeting (WGM) WHO organised on the same subject during the September of 2018 at the National Institute of Ayurveda at Jaipur.

The practice benchmark documents are expected to serve as international benchmarks for qualified practice of Ayurveda, and Unani. They will frame the safety requirements for practising Ayurveda, Panchakarma, and Unani and provide qualifying criteria for practitioners of Ayurveda and Unani among addressing other details and nuances of medical practice. These documents shall serve as reference to national authorities to establish/strengthen regulatory standards and ensure practice of Ayurveda, Panchakarma, and Unani, and assure patient safety.

The purpose of the WHO Working Group Meeting (WGM) is to review, comment and revise the draft documents prepared on the Standard Terminologies of Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha by a select group of nine experts. The WGM shall help in arriving at an international consensus regarding the structure and content of each of the documents, including on occasions, consensus on the meanings and definition of words used in these systems. The documents are expected to provide: list of terms in the respective systems, their definitions (short or explanatory descriptions as required) including contextual meanings of the terms, classical usage/of the terms with references to the definitions, suggested English terms, synonyms, and even define exclusions to the meanings of the term in medical context. The documents shall cover terms related to basic principles, fundamental theories, human structure and function, diagnosis, pathologies, patterns, and body constitutions, pharmacognosy, pharmacology, preparation of food and medicines, therapeutics, and preventive and health promotion interventions, and miscellaneous terms in the respective medical systems.

The 93 International experts are being invited from nearly 30 different countries (covering all six regions of WHO ) including Japan, New Zealand, Malaysia, Singapore, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, India, Mauritius, Ghana, South Africa, Tanzania, UAE, Iran, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Germany, Latvia, Austria, Denmark, Russia, Hungary, USA, Canada, and Argentina.