Post-COVID Asia Pacific turns to traditional medicine

[马尼拉]由于亚太地区从共同的19日大流行中出现，该地区计划落在传统和补充医学上，以在WHO的支持下增强医疗保健服务。

At ameetingof theWHO’s Western Pacific Regionon 28 October,healthministers adopted a resolution to improve access to safe, effective and “culturally accepted services” to harness the role of traditional and complementarymedicinefor health and well-being.

Takeshi Kasai西太平洋地区总监，他解释说：“传统和补充医学服务是基于证据的，安全且具有保证质量的传统医学服务，这对于有助于以患者为中心的整体，以患者为基础的方法来实现健康和福祉。”

“传统和补充医学服务是基于证据的，安全且具有保证质量的传统医学服务，这对于以患者为中心的整体，以患者为中心的方法来实现健康和福祉非常有价值”

Takeshi Kasai, WHO

Kasai补充说，传统医学可以在老龄化人群和患有慢性病的人的健康和福祉中发挥特别重要的作用。

谁将为该地区的37个成员国提供技术支持，该州拥有19亿人的居所，以帮助制定，更新和实施国家准则，战略和工具，增加对传统和补充药物的长期投资，并加强公共和消费者教育to enable informed decision-making.

菲律宾主任Imelda Angeles-Agdeppa食物与营养研究所，说，世卫组织对传统和互补药物的承诺是一个很好的举动，并且具有重视世代相传的古老知识的重要性。

For instance, virgin coconut oil (VCO) has been traditionally used in the Philippines with the long-held belief of antiviral properties.

“Using this knowledge, we decided to put this to test and see whether we can use it in the fight against新冠肺炎，“ 她说。“我们的研究结果表明，可以使用维榨椰子油作为住院治疗的辅助疗法，每天三顿餐，每顿餐每顿饭给予VCO患者，从而避免进展到严重病例。干预措施可节省数百万比索的严重案件费用。”

促进健康学校

传统和互补药物的促进和开发可以帮助从疾病-oriented approach to health to one that is person- and community-oriented, the meeting noted. Included is a plan is to develop policy and programme innovations to foster schools as environments that invest in health.

“As many as 611 million children and adolescents call the Western Pacific region home, and most spend a third of their time each year in school,” says Kasai. “That is why we need a special focus on health in schools — to address the risks孩子们对他们的健康和青少年面对今天和冥界p them to form habits that will be a foundation for long, healthy lives.”

营养is also a key challenge for the region given that an estimated 12 million children having stunted growth. In addition, injuries, violence, substance abuse, mental health conditions and unsafe environments are common problems.

“We have an opportunity to act now to change the future by investing in schools as ‘incubators’ for health. They have a critical role, not only in supporting children in their academic learning but also in influencing them to be healthier and achieve their highest capability and potential,” Kasai says.

Governments会议获悉，可能会考虑上下文特定的开发以及对传统和互补药物的全面利用，以确保服务的质量和安全性。各国可以根据人口的背景和需求开发与更广泛的卫生系统相辅相成的服务交付模型。

“Whether it’s to treat ailments or promote health, traditional and complementary medicine is used extensively by people in the Western Pacific, but its practice varies widely, depending on the social and cultural context,” Kasai says.

He says that there is evidence to support the assertion that traditional and complementary medicines help improve quality of life. He adds that traditional medicine can play a particularly important role in the health and well-being of ageing populations and people with chronic conditions.

在同一活动中，日本卫生，劳动和福利部长Shigeyuki Goto说，成员国可以从日本与大流行的经验中学习很多东西。

“Among the G7 nations, Japan has the lowest number of COVID-19 deaths, and we were able to safely host the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games thanks to all the preventative measures taken, including a focus on the ‘3 C’s’ – avoiding closed spaces, crowded places and close-contact settings. “

但是，亚太地区尤其是东南亚的国家始终落后于19日的复原力评估。印度尼西亚，马来西亚，泰国，越南和菲律宾连续第二个月进入彭博弹性排名。

Maria Rosario Vergeire, undersecretary for health in the Philippines says the actions taken by her country against COVID-19 cannot be compared to those in countries like the US where the health system was “already robust, being a high-income country”.

“We cannot compare an apple with an orange,” Vergeire said. “When the pandemic hit, we saw the stark difference across different countries. Some had the resources and the vaccine manufacturers. So definitely these high-income countries will have the biggest share of the vaccines.”

This piece was produced by SciDev.Net’s Asia & Pacific desk.