Eisenberg’s studies in America surprised American health policymakers and they showed for the first time in the world that people without the help of the government and insurance companies pay huge expenses for visits and treatment from their own pockets, even for non-common treatment methods, i.e. Complementary and alternative methods have been paid. According to the study, from 1990 to 1997, the number of referrals to complementary and alternative medicine in the United States increased from 427 to 629 million people, while the number of referrals to new medicine doctors in 1997 was 386 million.

This movement was known in the West as (the democratization of medicine). The foundation of this movement was that people are free to choose their own health and treatment system according to their culture and environment, and governments play the role of guidance and information. In this way of thinking, people should have a strong voice and role in decisions and systems that affect their health, and they need tools that help them to be more actively involved. And those involved in the health system should value social justice and the individual in the context of society.

People make decisions every day that have far greater impacts on their health than decisions controlled by the healthcare system. Patients and their family caregivers are perhaps the most underutilized resource in improving health status and health care outcomes.

Based on the national attention to unconventional medical methods, the American government established the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) in the National Institute of Health (NIH) in 1990.

In 2000, during a two-year study, the final report of the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy was presented and the strategies of how to improve the efficiency of complementary and alternative medicine services were published in the American healthcare system.

Today, this thinking has spread under the title of Pediatric Integrative Medicine and Integrative Oncology and in other branches of medicine.

The World Health Organization also writes in the World Health Organization Traditional Medicine Strategy Book 2014 to 2023: Traditional and complementary medicine is still widely used in many countries, and its use in other countries is also increasing rapidly, and the interest has spread among the medical community.

170 member countries of this organization have approved the use of traditional and complementary medicine in their country, and 50% of all member countries out of 194 have national policies for this issue.

Also, 124 member countries have specific laws and regulations for the use of medicinal plants.

This growing process and the manifestation of many hidden opportunities in it has led to a scientific upsurge and policymaking at the national and international levels to make the most of this important opportunity to improve the health of societies globally. At the international level, the World Health Organization has launched a unit called the Traditional, Complementary, and Integrative Medicine (TC) Unit.

The World Health Organization explains the reasons for the development of traditional medicine in three points.

The following summarizes:

Intrinsic characteristics of traditional medicine: Traditional medicine has already been the health and treatment system of the people and is well accepted by them. Traditional medicine has certain advantages compared to all imported medical systems because it is considered part of the culture of the people and plays a significant role in solving some cultural health issues, traditional medicine can easily be a helper of scientific and global medicine. Introducing the development and promotion of traditional medicine respects the culture and heritage of people around the world.

The holistic nature of traditional medicine: traditional medicine has a holistic method that looks at humans in a wide range of environments from above and emphasizes that health and illness are the result of the imbalance and balance of humans in the entire system that surrounds them. From this point of view, the invading factors and pathogenic changes play a secondary role.

Applicability of traditional medicine:

There are major and various reasons for the development and promotion of traditional medicine. Perhaps the most convincing reason for the fundamental development and promotion of traditional medicine is the fact that acceptable, safe, and economical methods should be used.

Traditional medicine is one of the most reliable ways to reach health coverage for everyone.

In university education, the field of traditional and complementary medicine has been the focus of countries to better integrate traditional medicine services into the health system.

The importance of it can be seen in many countries of the world, from Australia to Asia, Africa, Europe, and America, despite the fact that in some countries, which are the main owners of traditional medicine, this role is much more prominent and one of the main pillars of providing medical services in it.

In Iran, following this global movement, although very late, and considering that Iranian civilization is one of the owners of one of the most important and long-standing schools of traditional medicine in the world, which has recently been recognized by the World Health Organization under the name of Persian Medicine.

The process of entering Iranian medicine into the university started with the establishment of the traditional medicine course (Ph.D.) in 2006 and continued with the formation of traditional pharmacy courses, this is an important starting point for the use of Iranian medical services and its integration into the health system.

In addition to that, the formation of executive governmental bodies such as the Deputy of Traditional Medicine (which descended to the Office of Iranian Medicine) in the Ministry of Health, Treatment, and Medical Education, the management of traditional natural products and supplements in the Food and Drug Organization, and the headquarters of medicinal plants and medicine and the Presidential office for Research and Technology have been in line with the aims of the Islamic Republic of Iran in using the maximum capacity of Iranian medicine in the country.

These goals and policies are well documented in the country’s upstream documents.

The announcement of the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei in April 2013 is as follows:

Recognizing, explaining, and promoting the development and institutionalization of traditional Iranian medicine.

1- Cultivation of medicinal plants under the supervision of the Ministry of Agricultural Jihad and supporting the development of scientific and technical innovations in the production and supply of traditional medicinal products under the supervision of the Ministry of Health and Medical Education.

2- Standardizing and updating diagnostic and treatment methods of traditional medicine and related products.

3-Exchanging experiences with other countries in the field of traditional medicine

4-Supervision of the Ministry of Health, Treatment, and Medical Education on the provision of traditional medicine and herbal medicine services.

5- Establishment of logical interaction and exchange between traditional medicine and modern medicine to synergize experiences and treatment methods.

6-Improving lifestyle in the field of nutrition.

Two-dimensional physician sage (hakim):

In the past, the sum of intellectual knowledge was called wisdom and the person who is surrounded by all those sciences was called Hakim.

Wisdom is also divided into two general categories: theoretical wisdom and practical wisdom. In theoretical wisdom, the topic of existence with (matter and without matter) is discussed, and in practical wisdom, it deals with the relationships between beings.

The great scholar Razi writes in his book “Essentials of Medical Ethics” that doctors have to entrust themselves to the Great God in their treatment and receive healing from him.

Sir William Esler, the father of modern medicine, writes: “There is nothing in life more wonderful than faith. It is a great driving force that we can neither weigh in the scale nor experience in the test crucible.” Faith has always been an essential factor in the practice of medicine.

Paying attention to spiritual medical ethics:

Addressing medical ethics based on spirituality is another important issue that plays an essential role in the prevention and treatment of diseases.

Health-oriented:

Maintaining health is a major part of Iran’s traditional medicine, as we read in the definition of medicine from the words of Ibn Sina (Avicenna), medicine is the knowledge by which the condition of the human body is known in terms of health and disease in order to maintain health and restore it as it has been lost.

The instructions for healthy living and maintaining health in traditional Iranian medicine are based on six essential principles for life.

These six principles are healthy weather, sufficient movement and stillness, proper sleep and wakefulness, use of food and drinks appropriate for each person, cleansing the body and maintaining essential body substances, and proper control of mental and emotional states.

These six principles are necessary both for living a healthy life and for the recovery of patients. Also, it is necessary to pay attention to these principles so that the disease does not recur after recovery.

Today, in America, politicians have realized that the costs of common treatment methods lead the nation to bankruptcy, and it is necessary to introduce the principles of disease prevention, which include major changes in the way of life, especially education, and changing the pattern of physical activity and nutrition, and control of mental states. Mental health should be at the top of the programs of the American health system.

Spiritual medicine and spiritual health:

All the efforts of the materialistic schools, which recognize human existence and identity only in three physical, psychological, and social dimensions, although recently they have also mentioned the spiritual dimension.

In providing health, the achievement of physical, mental, and social well-being is summed up these three, and an important part of it, that is, the spiritual life that is neglected by humans knowingly or unknowingly.

But if we look at the identity of man with a broader view in the shadow of the teachings of divine religions, we will find a man with spiritual, physical, psychological, and social spritobiopsychosocial characteristics, a being superior to all creations.

Dealing with spirituality is one of the other important issues that play a fundamental role in staying healthy and preventing diseases.

Today, after years of regression in modern medical science, it has been noticed again. At the annual World Health Assembly in 1983, the representative of Norway announced that despite the very good economic and social conditions in his country, unfortunately, addiction, despair of life, and other mental disorders are problematic for Norwayan people and following this discussion at the 36th World Health Assembly, the issue of the spiritual dimension Health was brought up.

And a decade ago, European governments signed the Copenhagen Declaration, which committed them to address the spiritual needs of their people.

Rational treatment methods

According to Ibn Sina, the most important part of the treatment is completed with three things: 1. Management of lifestyle, especially nutrition. 2. Use of medicines. 3. Use of manual work.

As it can be seen, in the treatment of diseases, the cause of which is usually a disturbance in the way of life, such as immobility, sleep and nutrition disorders, and lack of control over mental and emotional states, he puts the correction of the way of life, especially the above-related matters, at the top of the treatments, and he considers nutritional therapy to be the most important.

Conclusion:

Five categories of theories and ideas have been presented in the Persian medicine sources:

I. Hakim, a two-dimensional physician: In the past, Hakim was someone who encompassed all intellectual and argumentative sciences and paid attention to human beings and medicine from a material and spiritual point of view.

II. Paying attention to spiritual medical ethics: Addressing medical ethics based on spirituality is another important issue that plays an essential role in the prevention and treatment of diseases.

III. Health-oriented: Maintaining health is a major part of traditional Persian medicine, the main purpose of Persian medicine is to prevent people from getting sick.

IV. Spiritual medicine and spiritual health: According to Persian medicine, dealing with spirituality is another important issue that plays a key role in staying healthy and preventing diseases by strengthening administrator power.

V. Rational treatment methods: Persian medicine prioritizes treatment with the management of lifestyle, especially nutrition. Medication and manual procedures are the next steps.

Categories of theories and ideas that have been presented in the Persian medicine sources will effectively guide the way of thinking and medical knowledge both in Iran and the world.

(Source: Journal of Culture and Health Promotion; Academy of Medical Sciences of Islamic Republic of Iran)

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