The World Health Organization (WHO) is preparing to launch the world’s most comprehensive digital knowledge repository for traditional, complementary and integrative medicine. The Traditional Medicine Global Library (TMGL) will be released in December 2025 at the upcoming WHO Global Summit on Traditional Medicine in New Delhi, India.
Although 170 WHO Member States report the use of some form of traditional medicine, it has often been underrepresented in scientific and policy discussions. The TMGL seeks to change that. By collecting, preserving and sharing diverse sources of information on traditional, complementary and integrative medicine from different knowledge bases on a global scale, and ensuring equitable access, it aims to support learning and decision-making processes. The library also addresses the call of the WHO Global Traditional Medicine Strategy 2025–2034 to foster a strong evidence base for traditional medicine, based on context-sensitive and holistic research approaches, and ensuring respect for Indigenous knowledge systems.
“It should be our joint effort to build a global repository for traditional medicine," said Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, at the G20 Ministers of Health Meeting, Gandhinagar, India, 18 August 2023
The library will be significant in size and scope. In the first half of 2025, the platform has integrated over 1.5 million records spanning evidence maps, journals, multimedia collections, policies and regulations. It has also established six interconnected regional portals and 194 dedicated country pages featuring key resources and research analytics.
The TMGL is expanding access to health information and evidence not only through its global collections but also by curating relevant content in dedicated thematic pages, including traditional midwifery, Ayurveda, anthroposophical medicine, integrative oncology and integrative paediatrics.
