Citation, abstract and comment from me below.
CITATION: Online sources of health-related traditional knowledge: content for a traditional medicine library
Carmen VM Abdala et al. WHO Bulletin 2026
PMCID: PMC13123431 PMID: 42058611
ABSTRACT
Objective: To map digital resources on traditional, complementary and integrative medicine, including databases, repositories, libraries and web portals providing access to traditional knowledge, research or policy information.
Methods: We undertook a rapid review of publications related to digital resources on traditional medicine. We also surveyed specialists in traditional medicine for referrals to digital resources. We searched PubMed®, Embase, the Virtual Health Library of the Pan American Health Organization and Google. Eligible resources were digital platforms indexing traditional medicine knowledge, research or policy. From the publications identified, we retrieved relevant digital resources and extracted data on their scope, content and geographic distribution.
Findings: From 102 studies, we identified 358 potentially relevant digital resources on traditional medicine across all regions of the World Health Organization (WHO). We included 125 of these resources in our inventory of traditional medicine digital resources. The Western Pacific Region accounted for 36% (45/125) of the resources, led by China with 34 resources, and the Americas accounted for 24% (30/125) of the resources, with 24 resources from the United States of America. Most digital resources focused on pharmacological or clinical applications; only five addressed Indigenous medicine.
Conclusion: Digital resources on traditional, complementary and integrative medicine are diverse but fragmented. Codified systems are predominant while Indigenous traditions are marginalized. WHO’s Traditional Medicine Global Library offers an opportunity to correct these imbalances by creating an inclusive, ethically governed platform that safeguards knowledge systems and supports their equitable integration into global health.
COMMENT (NPW): I would be interested to learn more about WHO’s Traditional Medicine Global Library and how it will be implemented. An alternative (or complementary) approach would be to channel resources towards synthesis of available evidence through systematic reviews of multiple topics. In this scenario, the quality of evidence of research papers can be assessed in manageable chunks by those with specialist skills in this area.
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org