Abstract
Traditional and herbal medicines (THM) are recognized by the World Health Organization to significantly contribute to the goal of ensuring healthcare for all people, when they are proven to be of sufficient quality, safety, and efficacy. Over the past 10years the publication of Good Manufacturing guidelines by many countries has been a significant step forward to overcome the quality issues. In terms of efficacy, good quality clinical data for efficacy is still lacking and should be a priority for future research. Finally, in terms of safety, most consumers believe that herbal medicines are safer than prescription drugs, however many cases of adulteration with heavy metals and prescription drugs have been reported. Adverse event reporting for herbal medicines remains low, indicating either safety or under-reporting, and it would be helpful to have a global system of adverse event reporting that healthcare professionals could easily access in clinical practice.Graphical abstract
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