Traditional medicine researchers and public health experts have called for the integration of traditional medicine into health systems in ways that are safe, evidence-informed and responsive to population health needs.

The experts spoke at the World Congress on Public Health (WCPH) in Cape Town, South Africa, where they examined the contribution of traditional, complementary and integrative medicine (TCIM) to public health under the recently adopted WHO Global Traditional Medicine Strategy 2025–2034.

The session, titled “Traditional Medicine and Public Health: Preparing for System-Wide Change,” highlighted the growing role of TCIM in advancing evidence-informed, people-centred care.

Opening the workshop, Dr Geetha Pillai of the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Centre outlined the evolution of the organisation’s work on traditional medicine and the significance of the World Health Assembly’s adoption of the global strategy.

Pillai said strengthening the evidence base for TCIM was fundamental to ensuring its safe use, effective regulation and integration into health systems.

She noted that traditional medicine was already a public health reality for billions of people worldwide, with most WHO Member States reporting its use. However, she said the scale of use was not matched by research investment, creating the need for stronger evidence to guide policy and practice.

Professor of Public Health at the Australian Research Consortium in Complementary and Integrative Medicine, Southern Cross University, Prof. Amie Steel, presented findings from the WHO global traditional medicine research priority-setting exercise.

The exercise brought together experts and stakeholders worldwide to identify research priorities and areas where investment could deliver the greatest public health impact.

The analysis identified gaps between research activity and global health needs, with priority areas including mental health, stroke, pain management, musculoskeletal conditions, cancer, metabolic disorders and reproductive health. Cross-cutting priorities included climate resilience, antimicrobial resistance and artificial intelligence governance.

A Tanzanian pharmacist, clinical pharmacologist and global health policy expert, Prof. Ossy Kasilo, focused on regulation as a means of ensuring the safety, quality and accountability of traditional medicine products and practitioners.

Drawing on experiences across Africa, she said progress had been made in establishing legal and institutional frameworks but called for stronger implementation, quality assurance, pharmacovigilance and collaboration between traditional health practitioners.

Also, Head of the WHO Collaborating Centre for Traditional, Integrative and Preventive Medicine at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Dr Hiba Boujnah, stressed the importance of partnerships in translating global strategies into action.

She said collaboration across health, education, culture, environment and research could help generate evidence, protect traditional knowledge and support informed decision-making by communities in building a holistic health system that leaves no one behind.