Dear Distinguished Guests,
Participants, Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen.
It gives me great pleasure to be here today to help inaugurate the Korean Institute of Oriental
Medicine as a WHO Collaborating Centre in Traditional Medicine.
Traditional medicine has become increasingly popular in recent years.
Traditional medicine products and practices are used extensively throughout the Western Pacific Region and in many other parts of the world.
They are important to the health of many people and are an important part of the economy in several of our Member States.
Recognizing the significance of traditional medicine in promoting good health, WHO encourages the safe and effective use of traditional medicine and urges Member States to more fully integrate traditional medicine with conventional medicine.
This approach can best be achieved by providing strong scientific evidence on the effectiveness of traditional medicines.
We need the support and cooperation of WHO collaborating centres, such as the Korean Institute of Oriental Medicine, to help generate further evidence to support the appropriate use of traditional medicines.
WHO has long appreciated the support from the Korean Institute of Oriental Medicine to programmes of the Western Pacific Regional Office in areas of safety, efficacy and quality of herbal medicine, as well as in development of international standard terminologies.
As many of you know, the Korean Institute of Oriental Medicine already hasd established working relationships with other existing WHO collaborating centres in the Western Pacific Region, and those relationships already have facilitated information exchanges that have supported research and training programmes that have helped build capacity in the field of traditional medicine at the national and regional levels.
But establishing a formal link as a WHO collaborating centre opens up greater opportunities for the Korean Institute of Oriental Medicine to share the knowledge and experience it has accumulated over the years.
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Government of the Republic of Korea for supporting the cooperation between Korean Institute of Oriental Medicine and WHO.
One example of this cooperation can be seen in the Institute's support of today's Intercountry Consultation on the Regional Strategy for Traditional Medicine in the Western Pacific (2011–2020).
I believe that the Korean Institute of Oriental Medicine will continue to play an invaluable role in supporting WHO in its mandate to work in the field of traditional medicine.
Working together, WHO and the Korean Institute of Oriental Medicine can help maximize the health potential of traditional medicine, and in so doing advance the cause of primary health care.
I would like to officially congratulate Korean Institute of Oriental Medicine upon its designation as a WHO collaborating centre, and I look forward to successful and fruitful cooperation between the Institute and WHO.
Thank you, and again, congratulations.