A few days ago, the "Belt and Road" series of blue books were released, among which the "Belt and Road" International Cooperation and Development Report in the Field of Traditional Chinese Medicine systematically shows the results of multi-dimensional traditional medicine cooperation
2023 marks the 10th anniversary of the Belt and Road Initiative. Over the past decade, remarkable progress has been made in international cooperation in the fields of traditional Chinese medicine and medical care, education, science and technology, culture and industry, and the high-quality integration of traditional Chinese medicine into the Belt and Road Initiative has achieved fruitful results.
Recently, the Office of the Leading Group for Promoting the Construction of the Belt and Road Initiative, together with relevant departments, has studied and compiled a series of blue books on the joint construction of the "Belt and Road" people-to-people bonds, the Green Silk Road, international cooperation in traditional Chinese medicine, the development of China-ASEAN, the development of China-Africa, and the development of China-Latin America, systematically expounding the development results, enlightenment and future prospects of the Belt and Road Initiative in relevant key areas and key regional cooperation, and released them at a special press conference held by the National Development and Reform Commission.
Regarding the "Report on the Development of International Cooperation in the Field of Traditional Chinese Medicine in the Belt and Road Initiative", Li Yu, Vice President and Secretary-General of the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies, said: "The Report is an in-depth research report that highlights the important role of Chinese medicine on the global stage and actively promotes the internationalization of Chinese medicine in China. The report sorts out the development process of traditional Chinese medicine in the world, analyzes the current challenges and opportunities, and puts forward forward-looking suggestions and prospects for future development. ”
Build institutional guarantees to promote the high-quality integration of traditional Chinese medicine into the Belt and Road Initiative
The report traces the achievements of international cooperation in the field of traditional Chinese medicine in the Belt and Road Initiative. At present, TCM has spread to 196 countries and regions, and more than 300,000 TCM practitioners around the world have opened more than 80,000 TCM clinics outside China. China has signed cooperation documents on traditional medicine with 14 co-construction countries, 8 co-construction countries have supported the development of traditional Chinese medicine within their own laws and regulations, and 30 overseas centers of traditional Chinese medicine have been put into construction.
Zhang Boyuan, deputy director of the Health Law Research Center of Capital Medical University, believes that these positive developments are inseparable from the optimization, upgrading and iteration of the policy and rule of law system as institutional elements. The construction of the rule of law environment of traditional Chinese medicine policy has played an important role in institutional norms and leading role in empowering the people to jointly build the country's health protection and increase the health and well-being of the people.
Li Jiangbin, deputy director of the Monitoring and Statistics Center of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said that in recent years, traditional Chinese medicine has been accepted by more laws and policies of other "Belt and Road" countries. Since the Belt and Road Initiative was proposed, many Belt and Road countries in Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Oceania and other countries have formulated and promulgated policies and regulations related to traditional Chinese medicine and special traditional Chinese medicine management systems.
Turkey, Hungary, Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, the Philippines, New Zealand and other co-construction countries have formulated and promulgated policies and regulations related to traditional Chinese medicine, among which Hungary, Indonesia, the Philippines, New Zealand and other countries have issued special traditional Chinese medicine management systems. In October 2017, Russia passed a decree allowing the cultivation of 43 medicinal herbs. In October 2018, China and Hungary jointly established the "Central and Eastern European Traditional Chinese Medicine Cultivation and R&D Base", and cultivated more than 10 varieties of medicinal materials in Hungary.
These achievements in the construction of the rule of law are the crystallization of the system in the field of traditional medicine in the process of building the Belt and Road Initiative, and are also an important symbol of the social consensus on the development and revitalization of traditional medicine condensed by various countries to rise to the national will. Zhang Boyuan said.
In addition, multilateral, bilateral and local cooperation mechanisms have become the "stage" for the development of traditional Chinese medicine. Through multilateral platforms such as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, BRICS, China-ASEAN, and China-CEE, the relevant national dignitaries have personally promoted the inclusion of the agenda, issued initiatives, and established the "Traditional Medicine Industry Alliance", escorting the exchange and cooperation and development of traditional Chinese medicine, and establishing high-level communication channels for traditional Chinese medicine cooperation.
Deepening people-to-people ties and benefiting overseas people with traditional Chinese medicine
At 8:30 a.m., there was already a long queue in front of the TCM outpatient department of Katutura Hospital in Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, and the waiting line went from the front desk to the outside of the corridor.
A patient with facial paralysis named Salomo came to see him for the fifth time. When asked why he chose TCM, he said that before that, he had also visited other hospitals, but the effect was not obvious. After receiving 4 sessions of TCM acupuncture**, his face that was unable to move due to facial paralysis was finally able to smile and speak much more clearly than before.
TCM has changed my life and I am very grateful to the Chinese doctors. He said.
On March 21, 2022, the Cambodian Cosma China-Cambodia Friendship Hospital, which was built with the assistance of China, was officially delivered. The first TCM outpatient clinic in a Cambodian public hospital, established on the basis of this hospital, was also officially opened. Now the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine has become a "star outpatient clinic": the outpatient volume ranks first in the hospital, and Cambodian patients account for more than 40%.
Many Kuwaiti patients have become TCM fans after the end**, constantly praising the efficacy of acupuncture, and through their word of mouth, our TCM clinic has an endless stream of patients. "No.
Liu Chun, a member of the fourth, seventh and eighth batches of Jilin Province's Chinese medical team to Kuwait and chief physician of the Affiliated Hospital of Changchun University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said that the medical team promoted traditional Chinese medicine to the local people through acupuncture, cupping, acupoint dressing, etc., so that they could better understand the culture of traditional Chinese medicine.
With the remarkable results of the high-quality integration of traditional Chinese medicine into the Belt and Road Initiative, more and more patients from the co-construction countries have become "attached" to traditional Chinese medicine.
The report pointed out that China has sent more than 400 TCM technicians to more than 40 countries, including Tanzania, Comoros and Ghana, to actively support African countries in the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases such as AIDS and malaria. Artemisinin-based drugs have become a staple of global antimalarial drugs, saving millions of lives. The "Compound Artemisinin Rapid Malaria Elimination Project" led by Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine in Comoros has helped Comoros achieve a miracle of more than 90% reduction in the number of cases.
Li Jiangbin believes that traditional Chinese medicine is supported by political leaders of the "Belt and Road" countries, recognized by the society and welcomed by the people, the key is that traditional Chinese medicine still has advantages that Western medicine cannot have, can solve problems that cannot be solved by other medicines, and can increase people's health and well-being. Therefore, making the local people "like to use, affordable, and useful" is the fundamental driving force to promote traditional Chinese medicine to the world.
Li Yu said that the achievements made in international cooperation in the field of traditional Chinese medicine in the Belt and Road Initiative are due to the concept of "people first, life first". The spirit of "great medical sincerity" is engraved in the blood of the Chinese nation, and has become the core of the overseas development of traditional Chinese medicine and the integration of traditional Chinese and Western medicine to improve people's health and well-being, and this core will continue to provide vitality for the international development of traditional Chinese medicine.
Accelerate the construction of standards and draw a broad blueprint for traditional Chinese medicine to "go to sea".
Traditional Chinese medicine should first consider the issue of standards when going overseas, and without standards, it is like a language barrier, and it is difficult to communicate. Song Xinyang, executive director of the International Development Research Center of Traditional Chinese Medicine at Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, believes that under the promotion of many years, the international standardization of traditional Chinese medicine has made great progress, and more clinical and laboratory evidence needs to be supported in the future to form a high-level evidence chain.
In recent years, international organizations such as the World Health Organization, the International Organization for Standardization, the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies, and the World Federation of Acupuncture and Moxibustion Societies have successively promulgated international standards for traditional medicine, including traditional Chinese medicine, which has provided strong support for promoting international cooperation in the field of traditional Chinese medicine under the Belt and Road Initiative.
In 2019, the 72nd World Health Assembly deliberated and adopted the Eleventh Revision of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), which included the chapter on traditional medicine originating from traditional Chinese medicine for the first time, promoting the integration and development of traditional Chinese medicine and the modern medical and health system. In September 2009, the International Organization for Standardization established the Technical Committee on Traditional Chinese Medicine (ISO TC249), which has officially released 102 international standards in the fields of raw materials and traditional processing specifications of traditional Chinese medicine, finished Chinese medicine, medical equipment of traditional Chinese medicine, and information of traditional Chinese medicine.
Li Yu believes that speeding up the "going overseas" of traditional Chinese medicine requires a two-pronged approach of science and technology and standards. China and other countries and regions have jointly carried out international scientific and technological cooperation projects and built technology transformation centers, accelerated the overseas registration of traditional Chinese medicine products and the formulation of international standards, promoted the popularization and application of traditional Chinese medicine in the world, promoted the internationalization of traditional Chinese medicine research through scientific and technological cooperation, and improved the standardization level of the traditional Chinese medicine industry by formulating standards.
The report pointed out that looking forward to the future, the development potential of traditional medicine in the world is huge, and the participation of traditional Chinese medicine in the construction of the "Belt and Road" has broad prospects. China will work together to build a country, strengthen dialogue and exchanges, accelerate practical cooperation, increase the empowerment of science and technology, deepen people-to-people exchanges, and continuously enhance the vitality and momentum of international cooperation in the field of traditional Chinese medicine, so as to write a new chapter in the era of building a community of health for all.
Li Yu said that traditional Chinese medicine, as a part of traditional culture, reflects the splendor of Chinese civilization and the responsibility of a great country. With the cooperation with more and more countries under the Belt and Road Initiative, TCM has unique advantages to promote the exchange and integration of different civilizations, deepen cooperation in political, economic, environmental protection and other fields while safeguarding people's health, inject impetus into the construction of a community of health for mankind, and lead us to jointly explore the infinite possibilities of TCM.
*"China Traditional Chinese Medicine News" February 8, 2024 1st edition reporter Xu Jing).