More than 80% of the world population depends on traditional and plant derived medicine. The annual global wellness economy accounts for USD 3.7 trillion; cosmetic and anti ageing medication contributing to USD 999 billion, USD199 billion from  complementary and Alternative Medicine, Spa Industry USD 99 billion, fitness and mind (mind relaxation, and Yoga) USD 542 billion, Nutrition and Healthy eating (Ceylon tea, herbs, spices, cinnamon,) USD 648 billion. Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicines Minister Dr. Rajitha Senaratne envisages ameliorating the Sri Lankan TM, Medical Sciences and basic sciences to cater to the holistic approach of health and global wellness market, uplifting the Sri Lankan economy.

TradMed International 2017 Sri Lanka, an International Symposium on Traditional and Complimentary Medicine, Educational Exhibition and Trade Fair, organized by the Ministry of Health, Nutrition and Indigenous Medicine in collaboration with World Health Organization and University of Sri Jayewardenepura – Prof. Ranil de Silva, CoChair of the conference and Trade Fair, has made an effort to amalgamate the Sri Lankan Traditional and Indigenous Medicine (IM) with Science and Technology on November 23, 24 and 25, 2017, at Water’s Edge, Battaramulla.

The event aims to explore through interdisciplinary approach the potential of Sri Lankan Traditional Medicine (TM) to cater to the rising demands for holistic medicine, by integrating the Medical Sciences, basic sciences and other disciplines with Sri Lankan TM, with an overall objective to “share the expertise and novelties in evidence based practices of TM in disease prevention, diagnosis and management; to develop safe, efficacious, quality and standardized products using modern science and technology, as well as the diagnostic tools and biomedical information systems in TM whilst instrumentalizing science through private public partnerships, and novel product development”.

The International Symposium attended by more than 35 international faculties from USA, UK, Netherlands, Australia, Norway, Japan, Singapore, India, Iran, S. Korea, Thailand, and China, will address on a wide range of disciplines including TM/IM, Medical Sciences, basic sciences, nanotechnology and molecular sciences. The conference will also address the novel approaches in healthcare industry including genomics, personalized medicine, and nano drug delivering. The trade fair will showcase 120 stalls distributed among international and national business community engaged in the fields related to traditional/herbal medicine, nutraceuticals and functional foods. Further, the trade fair will facilitate Business to Business [B2B] and Business to Academic [B2A] interactions providing a common platform to discuss, communicate on Private Public Partnerships [PPP] leading to novel product development through cutting edge research linking industry and academia. Interestingly, Sri Lanka has a unique biota of plants of which 12% is endemic to the country. Many of these plants are being used as raw materials for various concoctions and drug preparations in TM of Sri Lanka. However, less than 1% of these plants have been evaluated scientifically for their medicinal properties and few have reached to the product development stage.

TradMed International highlights timely requirement to tap into this goldmine opening pathway to novel product development through value addition. Furthermore, the event will conclude with the signing of the “Colombo Declaration”; a Ministerial level commitment of the participating countries to implement the evidential outcome of the Symposium strengthening PPPs and academic collaborations between the countries.

View full article; Daily Mirror : http://www.dailymirror.lk/article/Exploring-towards-wellness-A-journey-begins-with-a-single-step-139930.html