Medicina Tradicional y Naturopatía Clínica

Abstracto

Integrative Medicine: Global Perspective

Gundu HR Rao and Pratiksha G Gandhi

Integrative medicine is an approach to care, which can be easily incorporated by all medical specialties and
professional disciplines including, Indian Traditional Health Systems, and by all other health care systems
worldwide. Its use will not only improve health care for patients, but also enhance the cost effectiveness of health care delivery for providers and payers and facilitate the development of universal health care for all. A practical strategy, integrative medicine puts the patient at the center (patient centric) and addresses the full range of physical, emotional, mental, social, spiritual and environmental influences that affect a person’s health. Important elements of an integrative approach to health care include, engaging the patient as an informed and empowered partner and personalizing the care to best address the individual’s unique conditions, needs and circumstances. This approach is totally lacking in the modern allopathic system worldwide. The integrative approach emphasizes prevention, health maintenance and early intervention, and utilizes all appropriate, evidenced-based and personalized therapeutic approaches, to achieve optimal health and wellbeing across one’s lifespan. Although this is the basic strategy of all Indian traditional health systems, they lack evidence-based or observation-based clinical data, to support the benefits of such an approach. Global Alliance of Traditional Health Systems, a new platform that promotes integrative approach, is developing strategies to collect and collate observation-based clinical data on the safety and efficacy of Traditional Indian System of Medicine. In this presentation, we review some aspects of “Global
Perspective” on this subject and suggest ways to develop and promote this method of healthcare delivery.