Workforce, regulation and capacity needed for integration of traditional medicine

Abstract

The widespread use of traditional, complementary and integrative medicines (traditional medicine) across the world suggests that integration of traditional medicine into the formal health system is one strategy for extending universal health coverage (UHC). To improve access to and the quality of traditional medicine services will require attention to strengthening the traditional medicine workforce. The challenges associated with making such improvements should not be underestimated due to the many different practices, service delivery models and education systems for traditional medicine, as well as relevant policy and governance frameworks. Countries have adopted varying strategies to integrate traditional medicine into health systems to date. We consider how to strengthen and build capacity of the traditional medicine workforce so it might better contribute to the UHC agenda. We examine key issues and challenges for traditional medicine, and suggest analytical models for understanding the complexity inherent to integration of traditional medicine and making sense of different components of the traditional medicine workforce.