The World Health Organization has laid out a research roadmap identifying key health conditions that need further study within traditional, complementary, and integrative medicine over the next decade.
The 2025-2034 agenda names stroke, mental health, pain management, musculoskeletal conditions, cancer, metabolic and endocrine disorders, and reproductive health and childbirth as priority areas, alongside broader themes like prevention, healthy aging, and childhood health.
A gap between disease burden and research funding
The report points to a significant disconnect between how much certain conditions affect global health and how much research attention they receive in this field. Stroke, for instance, ranks as the third-leading global cause of death and disability, yet fewer than 1% of funded grants in traditional and complementary medicine address it. Mental health conditions rank eighth globally in terms of disability-adjusted life years, but the review found little to no dedicated research funding for them. Musculoskeletal conditions face a similar imbalance, remaining significantly under-researched relative to the disability burden they cause worldwide.
Cancer also made the priority list, with WHO citing its rising global incidence and calling for more research into integrative oncology and palliative care approaches. On metabolic and endocrine health, the agency is pushing for stronger evidence through longer-term studies on conditions like type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome.
WHO says the broader goal is to build a stronger evidence base around effectiveness, safety, regulation, and how these practices can be integrated into health systems — giving countries better information to guide policy decisions.
Patient safety in focus
The agenda also emphasizes safety research, calling for studies on herb-drug interactions, better systems for monitoring and reporting adverse events, stronger regulatory and quality-assurance frameworks, and safer integration of traditional and complementary medicine into primary healthcare settings.
The funding gap driving the push
This research push comes against the backdrop of a stark funding imbalance: WHO notes that traditional, complementary, and integrative medicine is used by up to 80% of populations in some regions, yet receives less than 1% of global health research funding.
India’s role
India has a notable connection to the agenda. The report acknowledges financial support from the country’s Ministry of Ayush in its development and publication. India was also among the health ministries that took part in the Second WHO Global Summit on Traditional Medicine, held in New Delhi in December 2025.
Importantly, WHO frames the document as a research-prioritization framework rather than a clinical guideline, meaning it does not amount to a recommendation to use any specific traditional treatment.
