World Health Organisation and South Africa Health Products Regulatory Authority recognizes traditional medicines

Traditional Medicine

The Traditional, complementary and alternative medicine (“traditional medicine”) is used as either an input to “modern” pharmaceutical research, but also as source of effective treatments in its own right. The World Health Organization (WHO) considers traditional medicine to have a potential for providing affordable treatments.

On 25 May 2019 in line with the WHO Traditional Medicine Strategy (2014–2023), the World Health Organization (WHO) member states adopted the eleventh revision of the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems (ICD-11).2 In it there is a new chapter that focuses on traditional medicine, commonly used across many countries. In Africa 80% of the population uses traditional medicine for multiple illnesses. There is also recognition of traditional medicine in Europe and high usage in Asia, with them playing a critical role in the health care system such as in Germany and United Kingdom.  In South Africa traditional and natural herbs are currently classified by South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) as Complementary Medicine – Category D. 3 The WHO believes that progress in traditional medicine contributes to the progressive reform of the world healthcare system, from global extension to the integration with multiple Western medicine-based disciplines. If this effectively happen, people all over the world will benefit.

¹ https://www.who.int/news/item/18-06-2018-who-releases-new-international-classification-of- diseases-(icd-11)

² https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(19)31205-X/fulltext

³ https://www.sahpra.org.za/complementary-medicines/ [Accessed 10 Jan 2021]  

⁴ Welz, N.A., Emberger-Klein, A. & Menrad, K. (2019). The importance of herbal medicine use in the German health-care system: prevalence, usage pattern, and influencing factors. BCM Health Services Research. 952. ⁵ Joos, S., Glassen, K. & Musselmann, B. (2012). Herbal Medicine in Primary Health Care in Germany: The Patient’s Perspective. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine. 1-10.