Vital role

陈小将

Vital role

Sohel Saikat, a senior adviser at the World Health Organization, said the 22nd World Congress of Chinese Medicine was held at a challenging time.

Countries are struggling to meet public health demands, amid significant reductions in overseas development aid, erosion of multilateralism, and economic contractions, Saikat said.

TCM resources and infrastructure have a vital role to play, he said. Saikat added TCM is often seen as accessible, more affordable and more acceptable to local populations, their culture, and heritage, thereby offering "a pathway to achieving universal health coverage".

Chris Zaslawski, a visiting fellow at the University of Technology Sydney, told China Daily that Australia's TCM practitioners are under a regulatory framework that positions them to help the sector's development at home and abroad.

"There is regulation and the use of quality standards for both practitioners and for devices that are used, and herbal products … Australia is well-placed to support the growth of Chinese medicine internationally.

"We have engagement on several levels with some of the universities and some of the associations in Australia, in China, and I think there is great potential for further growth as well. We have a multicultural community here as well, so it has all the right things for engagement and support of Chinese medicine here in Australia," said Zaslawski, who is a member of an industry committee for developing standards for Chinese medicine.

He also practices acupuncture and herbal medicine.

"I've been practicing for 45 years in Australia, and over that time I've watched an acceptance, an increasing use by the Australian public and community for both acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine. But also in areas such as tai chi," Zaslawski said.

"So more and more Australian people are taking up the treatment of acupuncture, herbal medicine, and also practicing things like tai chi," he said, adding that there is a healthy interest in TCM from Australian students from non-Chinese backgrounds, with accredited courses ensuring quality in teaching and practice.

The advances in technology, such as AI-enabled databases, will help the industry face the demands of evidence-based medicine, he said.

"If we're able to engage databases and standardize the TCM terms and the input of all the information, we've got potential for a lot of development, both for herbal medicine and acupuncture, and diagnosis and medical records; there are many areas where AI can become very helpful and important in the development," Zaslawski said.