India has signed an agreement with World Health Organisation for cooperation in promoting traditional medicine, a move which will deliver for the first time WHO benchmark document for training in yoga, ayurveda, unani and panchakarma. AYUSH Ministry and WHO have signed a historic Project Collaboration Agreement (PCA) for cooperation on promoting the quality, safety and effectiveness of service provision in traditional and complementary medicine.

The PCA was signed by AYUSH Ministry secretary Ajit M Sharan and Marie Kieny, Assistant Director General, Health Systems and Innovations, WHO in Geneva. The agreement titled ‘Co-operation on promoting the quality, safety and effectiveness of service provision in traditional and complementary medicine between WHO and AYUSH, India, 2016-2020’, aims to support WHO in the development and implementation of the ‘WHO Traditional and Complementary Medicine Strategy: 2014-2023. It will also contribute to the global promotion of traditional Indian systems of medicine.

WHO

The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations that is concerned with international public health. It was established on 7 April 1948, headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. The WHO is a member of the United Nations Development Group. Its predecessor, the Health Organization, was an agency of the League of Nations.

The constitution of the World Health Organization had been signed by 61 countries on 22 July 1946, with the first meeting of the World Health Assembly finishing on 24 July 1948.