On 31 August 2015, the African Region commemorates the 13th African Traditional Medicine Day under the theme: Regulation of Traditional Health Practitioners in the WHO African Region. This theme highlights the need to establish and strengthen regulatory systems in countries by identifying and supporting qualified practitioners and protecting the public against potentially harmful practices.
Traditional health practitioners are an important source of health care for many Africans, with an estimated 80% of people seeking treatment from them. The benefits of traditional medicine are evident to all. However, there is no doubt that proper regulation is essential to the provision of quality, safe and effective health care products and services. This is particularly important, especially in rural areas where traditional medicine is sometimes the only affordable and available source of health care. Adherence to strict regulations would protect public safety by ensuring that traditional practitioners are properly trained and that their practice is endorsed by a regulatory body.
Over the past years, the collaboration gap between conventional and traditional practitioners has been narrowing. Countries across the Region have expressed their commitment to integrate these practitioners into mainstream primary health care, to let them collaborate with other professionals to respond to the expressed health needs of the community.
Commendable progress has been made by countries in the Region to promote the safe and effective use of traditional medicine. For example, since the year 2000, the number of countries with traditional medicine policies has surged from a mere 8 to 40 and the number of countries with research institutes dedicated to traditional medicine has increased from 18 to 28. Despite this progress, only 21 out of the 47 countries in the African Region have laws or regulations governing traditional medicine practice. Some of the factors hindering progress are non-regulation or weak enforcement of regulations for practitioners and their practices, and limited evidence-based assessment of the safety, efficacy and quality of practices and products.
As part of efforts to support countries, WHO has developed a range of tools and guidelines including the Model Legal Framework for the Practice of Traditional Medicine; Regulatory Framework for Traditional Medicine: Practitioners, Practices and Products and Model Code of Ethics and Practice for Traditional Health Practitioners. Countries can adapt these important tools to their specific contexts as an important step towards protecting patients against potentially harmful practices.
As we commemorate African Traditional Medicine Day 2015, I call for stronger collaboration between governments, donors, the private sector and relevant stakeholders to take forward this important undertaking. If properly regulated, traditional medicine can be appropriately integrated into health systems and play an important role in achieving universal health coverage.
I urge governments to protect the health of their citizens by prioritizing the establishment and strengthening of regulatory bodies for traditional health practitioners operating in the African Region.
I also call upon researchers to work in collaboration with traditional health practitioners to produce scientific evidence on the safety, efficacy and quality of traditional medicine products.
I wish you a successful celebration.