WHO EMRO - Essential Medicines and Pharmaceutical Policies

Traditional Medicines > Traditional medicines in the Eastern Mediterranean Region

Regional work in the area of Traditional Medicine / Complementary and Alternative Medicine

The Eastern Mediterranean Region has a long tradition and impressive contribution in the practice and development of healing art and science. The zenith of this phenomenon was during the 10th to 12th centuries in Baghdad, which was the seat of influential Muslim rulers who passionately patronized the creation and promotion of all forms of knowledge. Traditional remedies remained in practice at a popular level through these centuries.This era produced giants like Ibn Sina and Razi. Medicine, surgery and pharmacognosy developed to a new level never previously known.

With the advent of the modern age and allopathic sciences, traditional medicine was eclipsed, but over the last few decades it is again emerging as an important theme.

The Regional Office has been involved in the area of traditional medicine since the early 1980s. The following list provides chronological information about major events in the Region in the area of traditional medicine / complementary and alternative medicine. It covers meeting reports; publications; important papers and presentations; collaborative meetings with other regional and international organizations; Regional Committee papers and resolutions; and others. Most of these documents are available in the Regional Office and copies can be obtained on request.

1983 Inter-country Meeting on Traditional Medicines, Khartoum, 5 - 10 March 1983. Report of the meeting is available.

1986 EMRO produced a Herbal Remedies Act (WHO- EM/Pharm/119-E) for registration of herbal medicines. Copies available.

1991 Inter-country Expert Meeting on Traditional Medicine and PHC, Cairo, 30 November to 3 December. 1991. Report of the meeting is available.

1993 The Development of Guidelines for National Policy on Traditional Medicine, Alexandria, 21-23 December 1993. Report of the meeting is available.

1996 Regional Consultation on better traditional healers and Traditional Birth Attendants in national health services, 11-14 October 1996. Proceedings of the consultation are available.

1996 Paper presented by Dr Xiaorui Zhang on Regulation and Assessment of Herbal Medicines in EMDRAC-3 in Manama, Bahrain, 4-8 November 1996. Paper is available.

2000 A survey was conducted in 2000 on regulation of herbal medicines in 22 countries of EMR and feed back was received from 13 countries. Out of these 13 countries 5 reported to have a National Policy on Traditional Medicine. The survey is now part of the WHO publication: National Policy on Traditional Medicine and Regulation of Herbal Medicine, May 2005

2002 In October 2002, WHO/EMRO collaborated with Islamic Organization for Medical Sciences to hold an International Seminar on Integration of Traditional Medicine and Modern Science in Cairo. Important papers from the seminar are available.

2002 A paper was presented in 49th Regional Committee on �The WHO Strategy for Traditional Medicine: review of the Global situation and strategy implementation in the EMR� (EM/RC49/13). Copy of the paper is available.

2002 Later the same Regional Committee adopted a resolution (EM/RC49/R.9) on Traditional Medicine. The copy of the resolution is available.

2002 December 14-17. In order to develop regional guidelines on the regulation of herbal medicines, WHO organized a regional workshop for national drug authorities in Teheran, Islamic Republic of Iran. Representatives of national drug authorities from eight countries (Afghanistan, Egypt, Islamic Republic of Iran, Morocco, Pakistan, Syrian Arab Republic, Sudan and United Arab Emirates), most of which are producers of herbal medicines, attended the workshop. The workshop focused on controlling the safety, quality and efficacy of herbal products, and developed draft regional guidelines on regulation of herbal medicines.

2003 Second Regional Workshop on Regulation of Herbal Medicine, Abu Dhabi, UAE, 7-9 June. It was attended by representatives of national drug authorities from six countries of the Region (Bahrain, Jordan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Yemen), who reviewed the draft guidelines developed in the first workshop. Report available.

2003 Guidelines on Minimum Requirements for Registration of Herbal Medicines. 2003.

2005 Zayed Complex for Herbal Research & Traditional Medicine hosted an International Workshop on Consultation on Quality Control of Herbal Medicine, 13-15 June, 2005 held in Abu Dhabi, UAE. Report of the meeting is available.

2005 22-24 November, Regional Consultation on Development of EMRO Guidelines for National Polices on TM / CAM