New Delhi . The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Ministry of AYUSH have taken a big initiative towards including the country’s traditional medical systems in the global healthcare system. In this regard, an important two-day technical meeting was organized in the national capital Delhi on 20-21 December. It aims to integrate traditional medical systems like Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani (ASU) with international health standards. This meeting was organized under the historic Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed between WHO and the Ministry of AYUSH on 24 May 2025. According to this agreement, a separate and dedicated module for traditional medicine will be developed in WHO’s International Classification of Health Interventions (ICHI). This will give global recognition and scientific basis to Indian AYUSH systems.
This initiative is being taken forward as per the vision of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The Prime Minister has already said that by adopting AYUSH systems in a scientific and standardized manner, they will be able to reach people across the world. This will give global recognition to India’s traditional medicine. The meeting was presided over by Kavita Garg, Joint Secretary, Ministry of AYUSH. Under his leadership, national level health intervention codes related to Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani medicine were discussed. During this, many experts including Directors General of leading research institutes like CCRAS, CCRS and CCRUM expressed their views.
The meeting was attended by representatives from all six WHO regions – Africa, the Americas, the Eastern Mediterranean, Europe, South-East Asia and the Western Pacific. Apart from this, representatives of countries like Bhutan, Brazil, Iran, Malaysia, Nepal, Mauritius, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Philippines, UK and America also participated. The main objective of this initiative is to create a uniform coding system for traditional medical treatments. This will enable accurate recording of information on traditional treatments in different countries, understand the effectiveness of treatments and help in research and policy making.
Health experts believe that this step will make it easier to integrate traditional medicine with modern health systems. Also, it will promote safe, evidence-based and inclusive healthcare. The technical sessions were chaired by Kavita Garg, Joint Secretary, Ministry of AYUSH, who led the Indian team in the development of National Health Intervention Codes for Ayurveda, Siddha and Unani Medicine. Under his leadership, an eminent team of experts contributed to this initiative, including Prof. Rabinarayan Acharya (Director General, CCRAS), Prof. NJ Muthukumar (Director General, CCRS), and Dr. Zaheer Ahmed (Director General, CCRUM).
According to experts, this initiative of WHO and Ministry of AYUSH is being considered as a historic and far-reaching step towards establishing Indian traditional medicine on the global platform. The meeting saw wide participation from all six WHO regions, including FRO, AMRO, EMRO, EURO, SEARO, and WPRO, ensuring a comprehensive global perspective on traditional medicine. Prominent representatives from WHO Headquarters in Geneva, such as Robert Jacob, Nenad Kostanjek, Stefan Espinosa, and Dr. Pradeep Dua, led the classification discussions.
He was joined by Dr Geeta Krishnan from the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Center (GTMC) in Jamnagar and Dr Pawan Kumar Godtwar from the WHO SEARO Office in Delhi. Member countries like Bhutan, Brazil, India, Iran, Malaysia, Nepal, Mauritius, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Philippines, UK and USA participated to evaluate their country situation and harmonize the details of the intervention.
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