WHO monographs on selected medicinal plants - travolekar.ru

Introduction
Increasing role of the <strong>WHO</strong> <strong>monographs</strong> on selected
medicinal plants
Over the past two decades, there has been a tremendous increase in the
use of herbal medicine; however, there is still a significant lack of research
data in this field. Therefore since 1999, <strong>WHO</strong> has published three volumes
of the <strong>WHO</strong> <strong>monographs</strong> on selected medicinal plants: volume 1
includes 28 <strong>monographs</strong>; volume 2 contains an additional 30 <strong>monographs</strong>;
and volume 3 provides 31 <strong>monographs</strong>. Including the 28 new <strong>monographs</strong>
published in this volume, a total of 118 <strong>monographs</strong> in four volumes are
now available on the <strong>WHO</strong> web site (http://www.who.int/medicinedocs/
en/m/abstract/Js14213e/).
Due to the diversity of medicinal plants and herbal medicines, it is difficult
for <strong>WHO</strong> to continue to develop more <strong>monographs</strong> on commonly
used medicinal plants. One of the objectives of <strong>WHO</strong> <strong>monographs</strong> is to
provide a model that will support countries in developing their own national
or regional <strong>monographs</strong> on medicinal plants or national formularies
on herbal medicines. Experts can be trained through the process of
developing country-specific or regional <strong>monographs</strong>, and national capacity
in this field can thus be built up.
For example, at <strong>WHO</strong>’s regional training workshop on regulation of
herbal medicines held for the <strong>WHO</strong> European Region, in September
2003, the participating national drug regulatory authorities of many of the
Newly Independent States (NIS) submitted their request to <strong>WHO</strong> directly,
for assistance in the development of <strong>monographs</strong> on medicinal
plants commonly used in NIS.
In order to respond to their urgent need, <strong>WHO</strong> initiated a new project
to develop a set of regional (NIS) <strong>monographs</strong> on commonly used medicinal
plants, based on available scientific information relating to their
safety, efficacy and quality, which will facilitate the creation of effective
and practical regulatory and quality assurance measures on herbal medicines.
<strong>WHO</strong> has been working with 15 national drug regulatory authorities
interested in this publication in NIS, Countries of Central and Eastern
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