Traditional Medicine Strategies

The differential approach in recognizing and classifying traditional preparations in the countries lacking traditional medicine regulation can be controlled by establishing an international framework for evaluating and regulating these products (Bast et al. 2002 15). WHO has developed strategies to address these challenges through the publication of the series of WHO Traditional Medicine Strategy: 2002–2005 to 2014-2023. The 2002-2005 strategy includes four major objectives: (1) framing government policy; (2) ensuring safety, efficacy, and quality; (3) enhancing access; and (4) promoting proper use of traditional and complementary medicines (WHO 2002 16). The current 2014-2023 strategy has two key goals: to support Member States in harnessing

There is no inherent prejudice in Europe against molecularly complex of plant substances rather, it is regarded as single substances. The costs and time required to approve herbal medicines safety and efficacy is less in Europe for substances that have a long history of use and can be approved under the "doctrine of reasonable certainty." The European Economic Community (EEC) guidelines outline standards for quality, quantity, production and labelling of herbal remedies. In Japan, China, and India, herbal remedies are composed of dried and powdered whole herbs or herb extracts in liquid or tablet form. In 1984, the People's Republic of China implemented the Drug Administration Law, considering traditional herbal preparations as "old drugs" and, except for new uses, were exempt from testing for efficacy or side effects. Traditional Japanese medicine, called kampo, is similar to and historically derived from Chinese medicine. In 1988, the Japanese herbal medicine industry established regulations to manufacture and control the quality of products in kampo medicine (17). The Indian pharmacopoeia (2008) contains monographs and standards of materia medica and patent preparations (IP,

Countries that already have a strong pharmaceutical regulatory structure in place should adapt their existing systems to include herbal medications, and countries that lack regulatory standards should work toward setting up a national system that encompasses both pharmaceuticals and traditional and complementary medicines. However, many pharmacologically active herbs will probably need to be registered as herbal medicinal products. The herbs and botanicals markets around the world are still far from realizing their full potential. New ingredients and new benefits for known ingredients are still being discovered, ingredient efficacy and therefore claim substantiation is expected to have the highest impact on new product development in the herbal and botanical markets, together with consumer education. This, of course, will require a larger investment in new products and their marketing. Expanding the credibility of traditional and complementary will depend on developing an evidence base approval system for safety and efficacy assessment, by consolidating existing national and international studies and supporting new research to fill evidence gaps. Clinical safety monitoring system for traditional medicines by encouraging spontaneous