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About 40 experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) and six countries including Australia, China, Japan, Korea, the Netherlands and the United States today (May 2) joined local experts in a four-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 to facilitate the integration of traditional medicine into the WHO Family of International Classification, which is crucial to the global development of traditional medicine.
The event, entitled "International Classification of Traditional Medicine Annual Network Meeting" was organised by the WHO with support from the Department of Health (DH).
Addressing the opening ceremony, the Director of Health, Dr P Y Lam, said that traditional medicine is a significant part of health care and has gained popularity in various cultures and jurisdictions.
"The WHO has well recognised that traditional medicine provides a basic tenet for primary care," Dr Lam said, adding that back in 2008 the WHO Congress on Traditional Medicine adopted the Beijing Declaration on Traditional Medicine, calling for member states' support to integrate traditional medicine into national health systems.
Dr Lam said he was pleased that the WHO has initiated the ICTM project and commended it as a significant move towards modernisation of traditional medicine and its integration into the WHO Family of International Classification.
"This project would not only develop a set of standardised terminologies and classifications that will facilitate exchange of information within and beyond the traditional medicine field, but would also serve as a building block of the future health information systems," he said.
Ends/Wednesday, May 2, 2012
Issued at HKT 15:03
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