Integration of traditional,complementary and integrativemedicine into health systems Integration of traditional, complementary and integrative medicine into health systems: conceptualframework ISBN 978-92-4-011039-7 (electronic version)ISBN 978-92-4-011040-3 (print version) © World Health Organization 2025 Some rights reserved. This work is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO licence (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/igo). Under the terms of this licence, you may copy, redistribute and adapt the work for non-commercialpurposes, provided the work is appropriately cited, as indicated below. In any use of this work, thereshould be no suggestion that WHO endorses any specific organization, products or services. The use ofthe WHO logo is not permitted. If you adapt the work, then you must license your work under the sameor equivalent Creative Commons licence. If you create a translation of this work, you should add thefollowing disclaimer along with the suggested citation: “This translation was not created by the World Any mediation relating to disputes arising under the licence shall be conducted in accordance with themediation rules of the World Intellectual Property Organization (http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/mediation/rules/). Suggested citation.Integration of traditional, complementary and integrative medicine into healthsystems: conceptual framework. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2025. Licence: CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO. Cataloguing-in-Publication (CIP) data.CIP data are available at https://iris.who.int/. Sales, rights and licensing.To purchase WHO publications, see https://www.who.int/publications/book-orders. To submit requests for commercial use and queries on rights and licensing, see https://www.who.int/copyright. Third-party materials. If you wish to reuse material from this work that is attributed to a third party, suchas tables, figures or images, it is your responsibility to determine whether permission is needed for thatreuse and to obtain permission from the copyright holder. The risk of claims resulting from infringement General disclaimers.The designations employed and the presentation of the material in this publicationdo not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of WHO concerning the legal statusof any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers The mention of specific companies or of certain manufacturers’ products does not imply that they areendorsed or recommended by WHO in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned.Errors and omissions excepted, the names of proprietary products are distinguished by initial capital letters. All reasonable precautions have been taken by WHO to verify the information contained in this publication.However, the published material is being distributed without warranty of any kind, either expressed orimplied. The responsibility for the interpretation and use of the material lies with the reader. In no event Design and layout by Inis Communication Contents PrefaceviiAcknowledgementsviiiGlossaryix1. Introduction12. Definition of integration of TCIM into health systems53. Conceptual framework: Categorizing models of integration of TCIM into health systems73.1 People-led (category A) models83.2 Practitioner-led (category B) models93.3 Coordinated (category C) models93.4 Blended (category D) models93.5 Further considerations on the conceptual framework94. Conceptual framework for integration and health system building blocks114.1 Leadership and governance114.2 Health system financing124.3 Health service delivery134.4 Health workforce144.5 Health information systems154.6 Health products, vaccines and technologies164.7 Using the conceptual framework and the health system building blocks165. Considerations for effective integration of TCIM into health systems176. Conclusion19References20Bibliography22 Figures Fig. 1 Conceptual framework categorizing models of integrationFig. A2.1. Conceptual framework for integration of TCIM into health systemsFig. A3.1. Theoretical example of using IAT in a countryFig. A4.1. Use of the IAT to analyse integration of TCIM into the health systems 72627 Preface The WHO Global Traditional Medicine Strategy 2025–2034, adopted by the Seventy-eighthWorld Health Assembly, provides a ten-year roadmap to harness the evidence-based, safe, andeffective contribution of traditional, complementary and integrative medicine (TCIM) towardshealth and well-being for all. Building on Member States’ long-standing commitments to theintegration of TCIM—from the Alma-Ata Declaration on Primary Health Care in 1978 to the 2023UN General Assembly Political Declaration on Universal Health Coverage—the Global Strategysets out four strategic objectives: to strengthen TCIM evidence, regulation, integration and Within this vision, the WHO Global Traditional Medicine