ROLE OF WHO IN HERBAL

MEDICINE
• The World Health Organization
(WHO) began on the 7th of April
1948, with the vision of ‘a world
in which everyone can live
healthy, productive lives,
regardless of who they are or
where they live'.  
• They therefore have offices in
over 150 countries.  They work
alongside policy makers and
advisors 'to ensure the highest
attainable level of health for all
people’. 
 WHO Traditional Medicine strategy 2014-
2013
• The strategic objectives are:
• - To build the knowledge base for active
management of T&CM through appropriate national
policies. 
- To strengthen the quality assurance, safety, proper
use and effectiveness of T&CM by regulating
products, practices and practitioners. 
- To promote universal health coverage by
integrating T&CM services into health care service
delivery and self-health care.
•  In early 1978, the World Health Assembly, the WHO governing
body, adopted a resolution on drug policies and management of
medicinal plants, which recognized the importance of medicinal
plants in the health care system.
• The World Health Assembly proposed coordinating efforts
through the preparation of an inventory of medicinal plants, the
development of criteria and methods for proving the safety and
efficacy of medicinal plant products, and the dissemination of
relevant information.
• In 1987, 1988 and 1989, three more resolutions were adopted
covering the identification, evaluation, preparation, cultivation,
utilization, regulation and conservation of medicinal plants.
 Based on those resolutions, WHO's policy on herbal
medicine may be summarized as follows:

• (1) WHO is fully aware of the importance of herbal

medicines for the health of a large number of the
population in today's world. Herbal medicines are
recognized as valuable and readily available
resources, and their appropriate use is encouraged;
• (2) To promote the proper use of medicinal plants, a
comprehensive programme for their identification,
evaluation, preparation, cultivation, recognition as
valuable and readily available resources, and their
appropriate use is encouraged;
• (3) It is necessary to make a systematic inventory and
assessment (pre-clinical and clinical) of medicinal plants; to
introduce measures on the regulation of herbal medicines to
ensure quality control of herbal products by using modern
techniques, applying suitable standards and good manufacturing
practices; and to include herbal medicines in the national
standard or pharmacopoeia.
• (4) As many of the plants that provide traditional and modern
drugs are threatened with extinction, WHO endorses the call for
international cooperation and coordination to establish
programmes for the conservation of medicinal plants, to ensure
that adequate quantities are available for future generations.
• WHO published the Monographs on Selected Medicinal
Plants volumes 1 through 5 from 1999 to 2010;
• these volumes contain a list of species with recognized
medicinal benefits and the accepted means to correctly
use them
• Misidentification and substitutions are a reality, with
confirmed reports from several countries, including a
recent study from our group in which we demonstrated
substitutions of species of “quina” (Cinchona spp.) in
Brazilian markets