who medicines strategy - libdoc.who.int - World Health Organization

COMPONENTS OF THE STRATEGY | 53Meeting the challenges in 2004-2007Over the next four years WHO will:> support Member States in developing theirnational inventory/catalogue of medicinalplants, which can be used to: facilitate theidentification of medicinal plants used bycommunities; record their distribution;support efforts to establish intellectualproperty rights.> establish criteria and indicators to measurecost-effectiveness and equitable access to TM/CAM.has also taken steps to protect its TM knowledge– in 1991 establishing the National Academyof Traditional Medicine in Iran and Islam andin 2002 recording 2500 flora among 8000traditionally used medicinal plants in Iran.ChallengesOne of the major challenges in the use of TM isthe lack of measures to protect and preserve theTM knowledge and national resources necessaryfor its sustainable use. Another is the potentialdiscovery of active ingredients in TM that couldbe used in R&D and patented for use in Westernmedicine – leaving the country and communityof origin without fair compensation and with noaccess to the outcome of the research.OUTCOME INDICATORS1999 2003 2007No. of countries with a national inventory of medicinalplants as a means to provide intellectual property rightsprotection for traditional medical knowledge#REPORTING % TARGET#REPORTING % TARGETna na na 9/39 23% 33%