WHO Africa frames traditional care as part of health access

The newly instituted annual day offered a forum for discussion of African medical knowledge and health access.

The 2003 observance encouraged policy discussions on how traditional and conventional care could relate.

Publication date: regional director Ebrahim Samba called on Western-trained health workers to respect African traditional medicine.

Publication date: WHO Africa asked conventionally trained clinicians to engage with traditional practitioners.

The 2004 WHO message addressed tensions between institutional medicine and inherited health practices.

The updated International Health Regulations set rules for responding to cross-border public health risks.

The regulations require countries to detect and notify events with possible international consequences.

The 2005 adoption aimed to improve coordinated responses while respecting human rights.

These regulations were adopted in May 2005 and entered into force in June 2007.

On African Traditional Medicine Day, regional director Luis Sambo urged a stronger role for traditional health practitioners in preventing HIV.