Strengthening research capacity on safety, efficacy and quality of care of traditional medicine

Abstract

This regional expert group meeting on strengthening research capacity on safety, efficacy, and quality of care of traditional medicine was held from 11 to 13 December 2013. The objectives were to: review the research work on traditional medicines done during the past 5-10 years in the South-East Asian Region; identify priority issues and challenges in strengthening traditional medicine research capacity; and prepare a generic framework for developing research protocols for traditional medicine in order to enhance clinical research capacity on evaluating safety, efficacy, quality of care and integration into conventional healthcare of traditional medicine. Ten of 11 Member States shared their experiences and participated in group work and plenary discussion. Recommendations for Member States and WHO were developed on strengthening research capacity to evaluate efficacy, safety, quality of care and integration into conventional health care systems of traditional medicine.