Context: 

Recently, the World Health Organization (WHO) has announced the 2025 update to the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11).

More on the News

• The update introduces a new module dedicated to traditional medicine conditions for systematic tracking and global integration of traditional systems of healthcare practices related to Ayurveda, Siddha, and Unani.
• This update follows the successful year-long testing and deliberations after the launch of ICD-11 TM-2 (on January 10, 2024, in New Delhi) for Ayurveda, Siddha, and Unani systems of medicine for country implementation testing.   
• Traditional health systems of Ayurveda, Siddha, and Unani will now be officially documented and categorized in ICD-11, alongside conventional medical conditions.

International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11)

It was announced in 2022 and it provides a common language that allows health professionals to share standardized information across the world. 

This eleventh revision contains around 17,000 unique codes, and more than 120,000 codable terms and is now entirely digital.

ICD enables member countries like India to collect primary as well as secondary data on various communicable (like malaria, TB, etc.) and non-communicable (diabetes, cancer, kidney disease etc.) diseases and mortality statistics.

ICD-11 was specifically designed for the following use cases: 

• Certification and reporting of causes of death
• Morbidity coding and reporting including primary care
• Assessing and monitoring the safety, efficacy, and quality of care
• Cancer registries 
• Antimicrobial resistance (AMR), etc.

What is Traditional medicine?

It is the sum of the knowledge, skill, and practices based on the theories, beliefs, and experiences indigenous to different cultures, whether explicable or not.

They are used in the maintenance of health as well as in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement or treatment of physical and mental illness.

Ayurveda, Siddha, and Unani are centuries-old systems of healthcare systems that have served as the cornerstone of healthcare for millions of people in India and the rest of the world.

Ayurveda is a whole-body (holistic) system of medicine that began in India more than 3,000 years ago. Ayurveda means the study of life. It takes a natural approach to all aspects of health and well-being.

The Siddha system of medicine is evolved from the Dravidian civilization. It is based on the fundamentals of "anda pinda thathuvam" (the relationship between the universe and human body) and 96 thathuvas (basic principles) which includes the concepts of five elements, three humours and seven physical constituents

The Unani system is based on the Hippocratic theory which postulates that a perfect balance of "Arkan" (elements), "Akhlat" (humors) and "Mizaj"  (temperament) keeps the body and mind healthy. 

• The theory presupposes the  presence of four humours in human body- "Dam" (blood)  "Balgham" (phlegm), "Safra"  (Yellow bile) and Sauda (black bile) and aims  at restoring the equilibrium of various elements and faculties of the human  body.