Context: ICoSDiTAUS-2020, the two-day International Conference on Standardisation of Diagnosis and Terminologies in Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha Systems of Medicine concluded in New Delhi
- ICoSDiTAUS-2020 is the biggest ever international event dedicated to standardisation of Diagnosis and Terminologies of Traditional Medicine in terms of the broad level of participation covering virtually all the continents.
- The sixteen countries which came together for the cause of Traditional Medicine at this conference are Sri Lanka, Mauritius, Serbia, Curacao, Cuba, Myanmar, Equatorial Guinea, Qatar, Ghana, Bhutan, Uzbekistan, India, Switzerland, Iran, Jamaica and Japan.
- The topics discussed in the conference included:
- The challenges in Counting and classification of traditional medicine encounters.
- Adapting ICD to TM Systems and their implementation.
- Relevance and regulation of Traditional Medicine in Health Systems.
- The conference succeeded in taking forward the objective of expanding the International Classification of Diseases(ICD) into the realm of Traditional Medicine systems at a conceptual level with all the countries endorsing the same.
- There was also a consensus that work on the second module of the Traditional Medicine Chapter of ICD should be expedited, and collaborative efforts of stake-holding countries are needed for this.
- The suitability of Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha systems for inclusion in the TM Chapter of ICD was also considered
- It adopted the “New Delhi Declaration on Collection and Classification of Traditional Medicine (TM) Diagnostic Data”.
- The New Delhi declaration emphasised the commitment of the countries to Traditional Medicine as a significant area of health care.
- It further sought the opportunity for including traditional systems of medicine like Ayurveda, Unani and Siddha in the International Classification of Diseases of WHO which is the standard diagnostic tool for health management across the world.
