Nigeria has reached a significant global milestone in the governance of natural medicine, following the appointment of the Director General of the Nigeria Natural Medicine Development Agency (NNMDA), Prof Martins Emeje, as Co-Chair of the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) newly established Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine.

The appointment places Emeje at the centre of the WHO’s efforts to strengthen health systems worldwide through evidence-based traditional and integrative medicine, under its Global Traditional Medicine Strategy 2025.

Emeje was named co-chair alongside Dr Susan Wieland, Director at Cochrane Complementary Medicine, following the formal unveiling of the 19-member advisory group by the WHO.

The group is expected to provide high-level technical and strategic guidance on policy frameworks, research priorities, standards, and best practices for the safe and effective integration of traditional medicine into national health systems.

Announcing the creation of the group, WHO described it as “a decisive step in applying a scientific response to traditional medicine,” noting that the rapid global expansion of traditional and complementary medicine had outpaced the development of strong evidence, standards, and regulatory systems.

At the inaugural meeting of the advisory group, held alongside the Second WHO Global Traditional Medicine Summit in New Delhi, India, the organisation’s Assistant Director General for Health Systems, Access and Data, Dr Yukiko Nakatani, said the moment marked a turning point for traditional medicine globally.