Acupuncture in accomplishing 'health for all'.

OBJECTIVE

'Health for All by the Year of 2000' was a motto of the World Health Organization (WHO). The aim of this study was to briefly review recent efforts to standardize and improve traditional medicine including acupuncture with a focus on the WHO activities for the abovementioned motto, acupuncture and neurological conditions.

METHODS AND RESULTS

The WHO Western Pacific Regional Office, along with the WHO collaborating centers, set standardization with evidence-based approaches as a main theme in traditional medicine. WHO International Standard Terminologies on Traditional Medicine in the Western Pacific Region was published in 2007, listing 3259 items of standard terminology. WHO Standard Acupuncture Point Locations in the Western Pacific Region was published in 2008. They will improve the reproducibility, validity and accumulation of knowledge in acupuncture study and clinical practice, for neurological conditions in particular. Other activities in traditional medicine standardization were also performed.

DISCUSSION

With the help of these standardization processes, 'Health for All' may well be established in the future especially for the neurological conditions, upon the structure of 'harmony in diversity', a harmony of Western conventional medicine and traditional medicine. The collaborative work between modern science and the traditional medical treatment, acupuncture, will play an important role in establishing this harmony.