Integration of Traditional, Complementary, and Integrative Medicine in the Institutionalization of Evidence-Informed Decision-Making

The “knowledge-to-practice gap” in health care has been well documented. The divergence between what is known through research and what is implemented in clinical practice has dire consequences, impacting health outcomes, quality of care, and the overall effectiveness of health care systems. Several knowledge translation strategies have been deployed to address this gap, including evidence-informed decision making (EIDM). EIDM seeks to ensure that healthcare practice and policy decisions are informed by the best available research evidence and other contextual factors such as acceptability, feasibility, sustainability, and equity considerations (WHO, 2021). Several initiatives have taken root to promote EIDM in health care systems, including the World Health Organization (WHO)’s Evidence-Informed Policy Network (EVIPNet), which has made available guidelines and resources for EIDM institutionalization. There are, however, other gaps that could be characterized as “knowledge-to-practice”, including the marginality that traditional, complementary, and integrative medicine (TCIM) knowledge and approaches continue to experience within health systems. Although research evidence in TCIM has grown exponentially, it continues to be unrecognized: 87.6% of participant countries in the most recent WHO TCIM report (2019) referred to “the lack of research data” on TCIM as their main challenge. The WHO has promoted the integration of TCIM into national health systems for several decades, yet the inclusion of TCIM in EIDM processes has recently been explored. This presentation will describe ongoing efforts to adequately incorporate the diversity of TCIM knowledge and approaches in EIDM processes and the implications of this intersection.