WHO Global Traditional Medicine Centre: Annual Report 2025

Overview

In 2025, World Health Organization (WHO) leadership reaffirmed Traditional Medicine as a strategic priority within the Organization’s broader transformation agenda. As emphasized by the Director-General in his remarks to the WHO Programme, Budget and Administration Committee 2026, WHO’s focus has shifted decisively towards partnership, delivery, impact and shared accountability.

Traditional Medicine is used by billions worldwide. It is recognized as an essential component of resilient, people-centred and sustainable health systems. This is especially true in the context of primary health care, noncommunicable diseases, ageing populations and planetary health. The adoption of the Global Traditional Medicine Strategy 2025–2034 at the Seventy-eighth World Health Assembly in May 2025 anchored this prioritization in a formal global mandate. The Strategy provides a unifying framework to guide WHO’s work and support Member States and partners in ensuring that Traditional Medicine is safe, effective, evidence- informed, equitable and appropriately integrated.