Legal Status of Traditional Medicine and Complementary/Alternative Medicine: A Worldwide Review © World Health Organization 2001 This document is not a formal publication of the World Health Organization (WHO), and all rights are reserved by the Organization. The document may, however, be freely reviewed, abstracted, reproduced and translated, in part or in whole, but not for sale or for use in conjunction with commercial purposes. The views expressed in this documents by named authors are solely the responsibility of those authors. Acknowledgements The World Health Organization (WHO) acknowledges its indebtedness to our Member States, regional offices, and WHO Member State representative offices for actively providing data on the practice and legal status of traditional and complementary/alternative medicine in their countries and regions. Thanks is also expressed to those international professional organizations, such as the World Federation of Acupuncture and Moxibustion Societies, World Federation of Chiropractic, World Chiropractic Alliance, and Liga Medicorum Homeopathica Internationalis, who provided valuable information specific to their relevant therapies. We especially thank Mr Neil Cummings (Canada), Mr Josh Gagne (USA), Ms Sophie Lasseur (France), Ms Yong Li (China), Mr Stefano Maddalena (Switzerland), Ms Magali Ramillien (France), Ms Valerie Truong (Canada), and Mr Guoliang Zhang (China) for drafting and revising the document and Ms Kathleen Sheridan (Netherlands) and Ms Diane Whitney (USA) for editing the final draft. Appreciation is extended to the Norwegian Royal Ministry of Health and Social Affairs for providing the financial support to print this review. Contents Contents Acknowledgements.....................................................................................iii Foreword.................................................................................................. ix Introduction ............................................................................................... 1 Terminology........................................................................................... 1 Widespread systems of traditional and complementary/alternative medicine ....................................................... 2 The situation in the use of traditional and complementary/alternative medicine ....................................................... 3 Africa ....................................................................................................... 5 Angola .................................................................................................. 5 Benin .................................................................................................... 5 Botswana .............................................................................................. 6 Burkina Faso .......................................................................................... 7 Burundi ................................................................................................. 9 Cameroon.............................................................................................. 9 Cape Verde.......................................................................................... 10 Central African Republic......................................................................... 10 Chad................................................................................................... 11 Comoros.............................................................................................. 11 Congo................................................................................................. 11 Côte d’Ivoire ........................................................................................ 13 Democratic Republic of the Congo........................................................... 13 Equatorial Guinea.................................................................................. 13 Ethiopia............................................................................................... 14 Gabon................................................................................................. 15 Gambia ............................................................................................... 15 Ghana ................................................................................................. 16 Guinea ................................................................................................ 18 Guinea-Bissau....................................................................................... 19 Kenya ................................................................................................. 19 Lesotho ............................................................................................... 19 Liberia................................................................................................. 20 Madagascar ......................................................................................... 21 Malawi ................................................................................................ 22 Mali .................................................................................................... 22 Mauritania ........................................................................................... 25 Mauritius ............................................................................................. 26 Mozambique ........................................................................................ 26 Namibia............................................................................................... 27 Niger................................................................................................... 28 Nigeria ................................................................................................ 29 v Legal Status of Traditional Medicine and Complementary/Alternative Medicine: A Worldwide Review Rwanda............................................................................................... 31 Sao Tome and Principe .......................................................................... 31 Senegal ............................................................................................... 31 Seychelles ........................................................................................... 32 Sierra Leone......................................................................................... 32 South Africa......................................................................................... 33 Swaziland............................................................................................ 36 Togo................................................................................................... 36 Uganda ............................................................................................... 36 United Republic of Tanzania.................................................................... 37 Zambia................................................................................................ 38 Zimbabwe............................................................................................ 39 The Americas........................................................................................... 43 Argentina............................................................................................. 43 Bolivia................................................................................................. 43 Brazil .................................................................................................. 44 Canada................................................................................................ 45 Chile ................................................................................................... 52 Colombia ............................................................................................. 53 Costa Rica ........................................................................................... 53 Cuba................................................................................................... 54 Dominican Republic............................................................................... 55 Ecuador............................................................................................... 56 Guatemala ........................................................................................... 57 Honduras............................................................................................. 58 Jamaica............................................................................................... 59 Mexico................................................................................................ 60 Nicaragua ............................................................................................ 61 Panama ............................................................................................... 62 Peru.................................................................................................... 64 United States of America ....................................................................... 65 Venezuela............................................................................................ 71 Eastern Mediterranean............................................................................... 73 Algeria ................................................................................................ 73