India and
the World Health Organization (WHO) would further strengthen their
collaboration for global health and well-being, especially in areas like
traditional medicine and digital health.

Secretary
(West) Ministry of External Affairs Sanjay Verma met with WHO Director-General
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Monday in Geneva.

“Secretary
(West) @SanjayVerma lFS had a warm, fruitful meeting with DG @WHO @DrTedros.
They discussed further strengthening India-WHO relations, working together for
global health and well-being, including in Traditional Medicine & Digital
Health,” the Permanent Mission of India at UN in Geneva tweeted.

Mr. Verma
briefed the WHO Director-General about the significance of Ayurveda and Siddha
medicines.

The WHO
signed a historic agreement with New Delhi on April 19, 2022, to establish the
Global Centre for Traditional Medicine (GCTM), the first of its kind in the
world, at Jamnagar, Gujarat. The aim of the initiative was to harness the
potential of traditional medicine from across the world through modern
science and technology to improve the health of people across the
countries.

The parleys
were a follow-up measure to achieve the goals and speed up the GCTM activity.

According to
WHO, the GCTM ‘shall focus on four main strategic areas: evidence and learning;
data and analytics; sustainability and equity; and innovation and technology to
optimize the contribution of traditional medicine to global health.

India has
committed an estimated USD 250 million to support the GCTM’s establishment,
infrastructure, and operations.