Government nod for setting up WHO Global centre for traditional medicine
What is the news:
- The Union Cabinet, chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, approved the establishment of a WHO (World Health Organization) Global Centre for Traditional Medicine (WHO GCTM) at Jamnagar in Gujarat.
- An agreement was signed by the Government of India with the world body in this regard.
About Global Centre for Traditional Medicine:
- The WHO GCTM, to be established under the Ministry of AYUSH( Ayurveda, Yoga, Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha, Sowa-Rigpa and Homoeopathy), will be the first and only global outposted centre (office) for traditional medicines.
- The move will help to position AYUSH systems across the globe, provide leadership on global health matters pertaining to traditional medicine, ensure quality, safety and efficacy, accessibility and rational use of traditional medicine while developing specific capacity building and training programmes in the areas of relevance to the objectives and conduct training programmes in campus, residential, or web-based, and through partnerships with the WHO Academy and other strategic partners.
- The move would help develop norms, standards, and guidelines in relevant technical areas, tools and methodologies for collecting data undertaking analytics, and assess impact.
Other MoUs by cabinet :
The other decisions the Cabinet was appraised of included
- a memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft e.V. (DFG), Germany;
- MoU signed by the ICMR with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), the National Institute of Health of Department of Health and Human Services, U.S.; and
- the Council’s MoU with Oxford University, U.K.
The objective of the MoU with Oxford University includes capacity-building for Indian scientists and researchers, collection of data compliant with international standards and regulatory requirements, development of India towards becoming a regional hub for capacity development using its own funds and following the principles of equity and sovereignty, and building partnership in and beyond data and skill-sharing with equity and transparency.
About World health organization :
- The World Health Organization(WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health.
- The WHO Constitution states its main objective as “the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health”.
- Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, it has six regional offices and 150 field offices worldwide.
- Director general – Tedros Adhanom