The World Health Organisation (WHO) will open a major conference on traditional medicine on Wednesday, saying new technologies — including artificial intelligence (AI) — can help subject centuries-old healing practices to scientific scrutiny.

The three-day meeting in New Delhi will focus on how governments can regulate traditional medicine while using modern scientific tools to identify treatments that are safe and effective. The UN agency hopes the initiative will help integrate ancestral practices more seamlessly into contemporary healthcare systems.

“Traditional medicine is not a thing of the past,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a video message released ahead of the conference. “There is a growing demand for traditional medicine across countries, communities and cultures.”

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a separate message, said the summit would “intensify efforts to harness” the potential of traditional medicine. Modi, a long-time advocate of yoga and traditional health practices, has strongly supported the WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine, launched in 2022 in his home state of Gujarat.

Shyama Kurvilla, head of the centre, said reliance on traditional remedies was “a global reality,” noting that between 40 and 90 per cent of people in 90 per cent of WHO member states use them.

“With half of the world’s population lacking access to essential health services, traditional medicine is often the closest — or only — form of care available,” she told AFP in New Delhi.

The WHO defines traditional medicine as the accumulated knowledge, skills and practices developed over generations to maintain health and prevent, diagnose and treat physical and mental illnesses. However, many remedies lack scientific validation, while conservationists warn that demand for certain products fuels illegal trade in endangered wildlife such as tigers, rhinos and pangolins.

“WHO’s role is to support countries in ensuring that traditional medicine, like any other form of treatment, is safe, evidence-informed and equitably integrated into health systems,” Kurvilla said.

Kurvilla, who studied at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and previously taught global health policy at Boston University, noted that more than 40 per cent of modern pharmaceuticals are derived from natural products. She cited examples such as aspirin, developed from willow bark; contraceptive pills from yam plant roots; and childhood cancer treatments based on Madagascar’s rosy periwinkle.

The WHO also highlights the development of the anti-malaria drug artemisinin, which was inspired by ancient Chinese medical texts.

Kurvilla said rapid advances in technology, particularly AI, have brought research on traditional medicine to a “transformative moment.”

“It’s a huge opportunity, and industry has recognised this,” she said.

As part of the initiative, the WHO will launch what it describes as the world’s largest digital repository on traditional medicine — a library containing 1.6 million scientific records aimed at strengthening evidence and improving knowledge-sharing.

WHO Chief Scientist Dr Sylvie Briand said AI can play a crucial role in analysing drug interactions.

“Artificial intelligence can screen millions of compounds, helping researchers understand the complex structure of herbal products and identify key constituents to maximise benefits and minimise adverse effects,” she said.

Briand added that advanced imaging technologies, including brain scans, are also providing insights into how practices such as meditation and acupuncture affect the body.

“It is frontier science that allows us to build this bridge — connecting the past with the future,” Kurvilla said.