July 18, 11:34
(ANSA) - ROME, JULY 18 - Cres
There is interest from the Western scientific community and patients in traditional Chinese medicine: so much so that, after four years of rigorous scientific evaluations, the first herbal-based traditional Chinese medicine product, the Diao Xin Xue Kang capsules, used in China for cardiovascular disorders, was also authorized in Europe. In Bologna, during the first 'Dialogue on Human Health between TCM Culture and Western Medicine Culture (TCM Dialogue)', promoted by the Foundation for World Wide Cooperation, directed by Romano Prodi, a constantly expanding picture emerged, mainly for two reasons: new approaches to the treatment of chronic diseases are being attempted and an attempt is made to reduce healthcare costs, which are rapidly growing all over the world, due to the aging of the population.
The aim of the meeting is to build a permanent table that will meet every year in a different country, to build a new model of health and care that integrates the millenary wisdom of the Chinese tradition with Western medical science. When we speak of traditional Chinese medicine we mean acupuncture, phytotherapy, moxibustion (a technique of heating skin areas with plant products), massage methods, Tai Chi and Qi Gong. Interest in these subjects is continuously increasing throughout Europe. In Italy, which proves to be bringing up the rear, 15,6% of the population turns to these methods, with a preference for acupuncture and moxibustion. Nothing to do with the diffusion in other countries: in Germany the 90% recognizes the Chinese disciplines as a medical treatment and the 39% of the population has tried them at least once in one of the thirty health institutes where they are recognised. Great Britain introduced traditional Chinese medicine in 2005: today the number of patients exceeds one million, in the country there are three thousand clinics that practice it (only a thousand in London) and seven thousand are specialized doctors. France is the country that pays the most attention to these techniques, if we consider that almost 10% of the 120,000 French doctors use them. In the world so far, 70 states have signed 94 intergovernmental agreements and 48 cooperation agreements relating to training exchanges relating to traditional Chinese medicine. In the last ten years, more than 10,000 foreign students from all over the world have graduated in traditional medicine from Chinese universities and more than a thousand have obtained specializations and doctorates. Today this discipline, which has millenary roots, also plays an important role in the treatment of cardiovascular, liver and tumor diseases.
