The World Health Organization classified traditional medicine in International Classification of Diseases (ICD -11), a system that allows health professionals to share information globally
In a first, traditional medicine was classified in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD - 11), a system that allows health professionals to share health information across the globe.
Millions of people use traditional medicine worldwide but it has never been classified in ICD 11, released today by the World Health Organization (WHO). In the making for over a decade, ICD-11 is a foundation to identify health trends and statistics worldwide, and contains around 55,000 unique codes for injuries, diseases and causes of death.
This is the first time the system has been made electronic and has received over 10 000 proposals for revisions. To be adopted at the World Health Assembly in May 2019 by Member States, ICD- 11 will come into effect on 1 January 2022. The system released today is just an advance preview that allows countries to plan how to use the new version.
ICD is also used by health insurers whose reimbursements depend on ICD coding; national health programme managers; data collection specialists; and others who track progress in global health and determine the allocation of health resources.
ICD-11 reflects progress in medicine and advances in scientific understanding. For example, the codes relating to antimicrobial resistance are closely in line with the Global
Antimicrobial Resistance Surveillance System. ICD-11 also better captures safety related data so that unnecessary events– such as unsafe workflows in hospitals - can be identified and reduced. Apart from traditional medicine, a chapter is introduced on sexual health to combine conditions previously categorised in other ways or described differently. Gaming disorder has also been added to the section on addictive disorders.
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Millions of people use traditional medicine worldwide but it has never been classified in the International Classification of Diseases, a global system to share health information. Credit: Wikipedia.png)
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