Building a Strategy for Development of Traditional Medicine Through 2045
Vietnam is developing a national strategy for traditional medicine through 2030, with a vision to 2045, aiming to preserve traditional knowledge while integrating it with modern healthcare, science and technology.
The Ministry of Health held a consultation workshop on September 9 to gather opinions on the draft National Strategy for the Development of Vietnam's Traditional Medicine to 2030, with a Vision to 2045.
Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan chaired the workshop, which was held both in person and online.
At the Lam Dong venue, Dinh Van Tuan, Member of the Lam Dong Provincial Party Committee and Vice Chairman of the Lam Dong Provincial People's Committee, attended the workshop alongside representatives of relevant departments and agencies.
Delivering the opening remarks at the workshop, Minister of Health Dao Hong Lan stated that traditional medicine is increasingly asserting its role in medical examination and treatment. Numerous effective remedies and treatment protocols have been promoted. Efforts to develop herbal materials and train human resources have received greater attention.
However, against the backdrop of an increasingly modernized healthcare system, the pressing requirement is how to continue leveraging the values of traditional medicine while standardizing and appropriately integrating them with the achievements of modern medicine.
This aims not only to promote the role and strengths of traditional medicine but also to improve access to and coverage of traditional medicine and pharmacy services, thereby enhancing public healthcare delivery.
The draft Strategy defines the development of traditional medicine as a strategic, regular and long-term task. At the same time, it emphasizes inheriting, preserving, and promoting traditional knowledge values, harmoniously combining traditional medicine with modern medicine, and advancing science and technology, digital transformation, and human resource development.
The general goal through 2030 is to build a comprehensive, modern, scientific, and internationally integrated Vietnamese traditional medicine sector; to develop traditional medicine into a vital component of the national health system, with coordinated development across the fields of medical examination and treatment, training, scientific research, herbal materials, and the herbal pharmaceutical industry; and to progressively build a national brand for Vietnamese traditional medicine..
Several specific targets set through 2030 include: 100 percent of commune-level health stations possessing adequate capacity to provide traditional medicine services; striving to reach 3 traditional medicine doctors per 10,000 people; 100 percent of commune health stations having at least one staff member trained in traditional medicine; digitizing a minimum of 70 percent of traditional medicine knowledge; and building a national brand for 30 products derived from herbal raw materials and traditional drugs, as well as 10 medical examination and treatment services.
Oriented toward 2045, Vietnam aims to construct a comprehensively developed, modern, internationally integrated traditional medicine sector rich in national identity; to form a traditional medicine ecosystem built on foundations of science, technology, digital transformation, and high-quality human resources; and to develop the herbal pharmaceutical industry into an economic sector with high added value and international competitiveness.
At the workshop, delegates exchanged views and offered recommendations to reach consensus on the contents of the draft National Strategy for the Development of Traditional Medicine of Vietnam through 2030, with a vision toward 2045, as well as the submission dossier to the Prime Minister.
Discussions focused on clarifying perspectives, objectives, indicators, tasks, solutions, the practical feasibility of traditional medicine, coordination mechanisms, herbal pharmaceutical industry development, digital transformation, and the cultivation of high-quality human resources.
The constructive feedback provided by the delegates was acknowledged, compiled, and incorporated by the Ministry of Health to finalize the draft. This serves as the foundation for completing the documentation to ensure the submission timeline to the Prime Minister in September 2026.
At the workshop, representing the healthcare sector of Lam Dong, Deputy Director of the Department of Health Trinh Van Quyet stated that based on the general scheme of the Ministry of Health, the Lam Dong health sector will formulate a strategy for the development of Vietnamese traditional medicine aligned with the local strengths and potential.