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About 50 experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) and six countries including Australia, China, Korea, Japan, the Netherlands and the United States today (March 30) joined local experts in a six-day meeting to further discuss and develop the International Classification of Traditional Medicine (ICTM) project.
The project aims to develop an international standard set of harmonised terminology and classification for traditional medicine.
The event, entitled "International Classification of Traditional Medicine Annual Network Meeting", is organised by WHO with support from the Department of Health (DH).
At the opening ceremony, the Acting Director of Health, Dr Thomas Tsang, commended the project for enhancing the integration of traditional medicine into the WHO Family of International Classifications which is crucial to the global development of traditional medicine.
The development of the ICTM project was consequent discussion outcomes of two previous WHO meetings in 2009 and 2010, also hosted by DH.
"It is generally recognised that traditional medicine is increasingly popular worldwide. The ICTM will provide a platform for compiling healthcare statistics and information on traditional medicine, which in turn can facilitate the study and evaluation of traditional medicine, as well as documentation of its role in disease prevention and treatment," Dr Tsang said.
Ends/Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Issued at HKT 19:07
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