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Fourteen representatives from countries in the Western Pacific Region, namely Cambodia, China, Laos, Mongolia and Vietnam, today (October 31) joined local experts for a three-day training workshop on the quality control of herbal medicines organised by the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for the Western Pacific (WPRO) and co-organised by the Department of Health (DH) and the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST).
In recent years, various forms of traditional medicines are increasingly being used in countries of the Western Pacific Region. Capacity-building programmes are therefore essential to improve the regulation and quality control of herbal medicines. The training workshop is one of the collaboration initiatives of the WPRO, DH and HKUST to provide capacity-building support for these countries.
Comprising a theoretical methodology portion as well as hands-on training in phytochemical analytical methods and contemporary technologies for quality control of herbal medicines, the workshop aims to equip regulators and inspectors from the participating countries with the skills and capacity to further develop herbal medicine standards and implement the quality control of traditional medicines.
Addressing the opening ceremony, the Director of Health, Dr Constance Chan, said, "As the WHO Collaborating Centre for Traditional Medicine, we appreciate this opportunity to work with the WPRO and HKUST to co-organise the training workshop that helps participating countries to deal with challenges posed by the increasingly important role of traditional medicine in their health systems.
"The training will facilitate further development, advancement and enforcement of national quality control standards in the participating countries to ensure the quality and safe use of herbal medicines," Dr Chan added.
Workshop trainers included experts from the Hong Kong Chinese Materia Medica Standards (HKCMMS) project teams, with researchers from six local universities, namely the Chinese University of Hong Kong, City University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong Baptist University, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, HKUST and the University of Hong Kong, and other Chinese medicine experts.
Ends/Thursday, October 31, 2013
Issued at HKT 15:37
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