Local Health Traditions and Preservation of National Heritage: Emphasis on Intellectual Property Rights Protection, Benefit Sharing and Mainstreaming

Abstract

Traditional knowledge on health sciences in India is broadly comprised of systematically documented and dedicated compendia of Ayurveda, Siddha, Unani and Sowa-Rigpa. Besides this, there are health traditions in vogue, transmitted orally from generation to generation as local health traditions (LHTs) and ethnomedical practices (EMPs), which largely remain undocumented. During different periods, policies and strategies of the government opened avenues for integration of AYUSH and conventional medicine at research and clinical practice. However, non-codified traditional systems of medicine, practised as LHTs and EMPs, need to be brought into the mainstream through various implementation models, thereby formalising the LHTs within the health system. The significance of traditional medicine is seen in improving ecologically sensitive life patterns and interventions conducive to local natural conditions. In a resource-strained ecosystem, usage of available resources within their vicinity and their choice of health care becomes relevant. The use of TM impacts people's health, and there is an increasingly commercial and scientific interest in traditional medicine systems, which has led to the need for their protection. However, the local folk healers and the communities do not have the means to safeguard their traditional knowledge. Strategy to protect the rights of the folk healers and the communities needs to be addressed. Therefore, effective models for intellectual property protection and proper benefit sharing need to be developed. An national networking system may be evolved for centralised documentation of these LHTs, ensuring ex situ protection of the IPR rights for the traditional healers or community. It becomes imperative to evolve a pragmatic model for the preservation of traditional medicine within the community and mainstream the practices through appropriate scientific validation and protection of their Intellectual Property Rights. This needs to be developed within the ambit of the biodiversity act, Drug and Cosmetic act and other social, ethical and community issues in force. Strong linkages and networking across the scientists, regulatory authorities, authorities related to national biodiversity and patent offices for a strategy for the cause of protection of Indigenous heritage of LHTs.KeywordsLocal health traditionsNational heritageIntellectual property rights protectionBenefit-sharingMainstreaming