Barriers under pestle?
as part of its initiative to promote traditional systems of medicine, the World Health Organization (who) has recently set forth a set of guidelines to help member states evolve regulations aimed at providing consumers with information on the appropriate use of the remedies.
Currently, 80 per cent of the world population uses traditional medicines. As per a who survey of 142 countries, in 99 nations the products can be bought without a prescription. Such "laxity' has led to several cases of side-effects, affecting the foothold of many of the drugs. For instance, on April 12, 2004, the us banned dietary supplements containing the Chinese herb Ephedra, as it increases the risk of heart attacks for some people.
The guidelines can play a key role in informing the masses about such consequences. They are an outcome of who's traditional medicine strategy: 2002-2005. The premier health organisation gathered "evidences' and "experiences' from 102 countries and held a consultative meeting in Italy during December 2003 to review the strategy.
It mainly advocates that steps should be taken to inform consumers about the efficacy, safety as well as contraindication of the drugs, ensure that practitioners are appropriately qualified and registered, and the consumers are provided with easy accessibility to