The
striking increase in CAM
failure of health systems
Dr Margaret Chan
Director-General of the World Health Organization
Traditional medicine has much to offer, but it cannot always substitute for access to highly effective modern drugs and emergency measures that make such a critical life-and-death difference for many millions of people.
This is not a criticism of traditional medicine. This is a failure of health systems in many countries to deliver effective interventions to those in greatest need, on an adequate scale. In the context of the drive to meet the health-related Millennium Development Goals, this failure is now widely acknowledged. Intensive efforts are under way to correct this failure, to strengthen basic health infrastructures, services, and staff.
But there is another side to the current reality, and this is also indicative of inadequacies in the way our world is delivering health care. This is the striking increase, in affluent societies, in the popularity of treatments and remedies that complement orthodox medicine or sometimes serve as an alternative to conventional treatments.
This is not a criticism of traditional medicine. This is a failure of health systems in many countries to deliver effective interventions to those in greatest need, on an adequate scale. In the context of the drive to meet the health-related Millennium Development Goals, this failure is now widely acknowledged. Intensive efforts are under way to correct this failure, to strengthen basic health infrastructures, services, and staff.
But there is another side to the current reality, and this is also indicative of inadequacies in the way our world is delivering health care. This is the striking increase, in affluent societies, in the popularity of treatments and remedies that complement orthodox medicine or sometimes serve as an alternative to conventional treatments.
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