World Health Organization survey on the level of integration of traditional Chinese medicine in Chinese health system rehabilitation services

Background: To meet the growing global demand for rehabilitation services, the World Health Organiza-tion (WHO) launched Rehabilitation 2030. This study was commissioned by the WHO to investigate the integration degree of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in Chinese health system rehabilitation services and the demand for TCM rehabilitation in China.Methods: Twenty TCM rehabilitation experts and relevant government administrators were invited to complete the questionnaire between September 2019 and January 2022. The development of traditional, complementary, and integrative medicine (TCI) rehabilitation in China was assessed primarily based on six different health system components.Results: 26 policies, regulations, and national strategic plans related to TCI rehabilitation were issued by relevant government departments since 2002; notably, 14 policies related to TCI rehabilitation develop-ment were intensively introduced from 2016 to 2021. These policies cover the three main areas of financ-ing, infrastructure development, and service delivery. The National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine's investment in TCM clinical capacity infrastructure and scientific research in 2019-2021 in-creased by 66% compared to 2010-2012, and the average number of TCM hospitals with rehabilitation departments in 2020 increased by 6.5% compared to 2018. The proportion of community health service centers providing TCM services in primary medical and health institutions has increased by 30.8% over the past 10 years.Conclusion: Long-term continuous policies, substantial financial investment, and expansion of the scope of TCI rehabilitation services in primary care institutions have effectively contributed to the rapid devel-opment of TCI rehabilitation. However, human resources and financing mechanisms for TCI rehabilitation need further improvement.(c) 2023 Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine. Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ )

Automated summary

This study investigated the integration of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in the Chinese health system rehabilitation services and the demand for TCM rehabilitation in China. The findings showed that there have been 26 policies, regulations, and national strategic plans related to TCM rehabilitation since 2002, with 14 of them introduced intensively from 2016 to 2021. Long-term policies, substantial financial investment, and the expansion of TCM rehabilitation services in primary care institutions have contributed to the rapid development of TCM rehabilitation. However, there is a need for further improvement in human resources and financing mechanisms.