TCM inclusion shows WHO’s holistic view on health

Traditional Chinese medicine will be included into the World Health Organization’s forthcoming International Classification of Diseases to be released next year, according to the science magazine Nature.

As a normative yardstick for classification of diseases in the fields of healthcare, management, teaching, research, insurance and policymaking around the world, the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems, to give it its full title, is considered the international “standard diagnostic tool for epidemiology, health management and clinical purposes”.

The inclusion of TCM is in line with the global trend for a more holistic view of health rather than merely disease treatment, and it will help promote the development of the traditional medicine system across the world so it can make greater contributions to human health.

Through the cooperation and efforts of experts from various countries, the new section on TCM in the latest ICD sets the template for diagnosing diseases and symptoms, and the framework of symptom classification in accordance with TCM.

Both TCM and Western medicine have their own characteristics and advantages.

Rooted in traditional Chinese culture, TCM puts the emphasis on the overall functioning of the body and takes into account a patient’s feelings, as well as the influence of the climate and the environment. It is a kind of customized healthcare focused on the “human”.

Western medicine, on the other hand, reduces analysis to anatomy and observation studies with emphasis on physical structure, objective indicators and in-depth microscopic analysis. It favors pathological diagnosis and surgical and drug interventions for the treatment of diseases as it is mainly based on “confrontation” cures through clinical measures and medical imaging techniques, and as long as the indicators return within the normal range, it considers the disease to be cured.

TCM, on the other hand, takes “harmony” as the starting point, treating the pathogenic factors by rebalancing a person’s yin and yang, the effectiveness of which indicates whether or not a patient is recovering.

As such, TCM and Western medicine have different theoretical bases, ways of thinking, diagnosis and treatment methods. To complement each other, therefore, the diagnosis process of TCM has to be standardized, this can be done by collecting and analyzing big data under the rules of TCM with modern artificial intelligence.

And with the coming together of the two medical treatment systems, the purpose of TCM’s inclusion in the ICD will be fulfilled. The author is president of Fujian University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

Industrial structure upgrading continued steadily in the first three quarters, with the growth of the tertiary industry’s value added being 1.9 percentage points higher than that of the secondary industry, and its ratio in China’s overall GDP being 12.7 percentage points higher than that of the second industry.

Besides, the service industry’s value added increased 7.7 percent, maintaining its fast-paced growth rate and contributing to 60.8 percent of GDP growth.

The first three quarters also saw continuous improvement in the investment structure, with investment in high-tech manufacturing increasing 14.9 percent year-on-year — 9.5 percentage points higher than overall investment growth. And private investment increased 8.7 percent, up 2.7 percent year-on-year, which will help restore market confidence.

Supply-side structural reform, too, continued steadily, especially in key fields, and new driving forces developed faster. The capacity utilization rate remained stable, and enterprises’ operating cost and leverage ratio reduced, while the assetliability ratio of industrial enterprises above the designated size declined and the commercial housing sector’s inventory declined further.

The first three quarters also saw rapid growth of emerging industries, and the value added growth rates of high-tech enterprises, manufacturing and strategic emerging industries were 11.8 percent, 8.6 percent and 8.8 percent, respectively – way higher than the overall value added growth of industrial enterprises above the designated size. This promoted the rapid growth of new economic driving forces, laying the ground for optimization of the economic structure.

Since the generally stable and improving growth trend has not changed despite China facing complicated external and internal challenges, it can be safely said that China’s economy is still strong and resilient, and will remain so because of its more than 1.3 billion consumers, the world’s largest middle-income group and Chinese people’s pursuit of a beautiful life. Moreover, China has a sound industrial system and supply chain, which can prevent as well as manage risks. And that the central government has launched a series of macro-control policies to stabilize employment, trade, investment and the financial market means demand will further expand and economic structural adjustment will expedite.

China’s active and effective fiscal policy and prudent and flexible monetary policy will stabilize economic growth. Therefore, by deepening reform and opening-up, China can maintain its generally stable and improving growth trend, and achieve its economic and social development goals despite the challenges it faces. The author is a research fellow at the National Academy of Economic Strategy, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.