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Actions to Incorporate Traditional, Complementary, and Integrative Health Care Practices into Primary Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Policies

  • Date: Oct 29 2024
  • Policy Number: 20242

Key Words: Health, Disease

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Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) have replaced infectious diseases as the dominant cause of death worldwide; they are responsible for more than 81% of all deaths globally. In the United States, NCDs have long surpassed infectious diseases, with 60% of Americans living with at least one chronic condition. Primary disease prevention, which focuses on health promotion that fosters general wellness, reduces the likelihood of diseases and premature death, and protects a person from disease occurrence, is an upstream approach that reorients health care toward wellness rather than only treating and curing. Traditional, complementary, and integrative health care (TCIH) practices that emphasize self-care, which are relatively low risk and many of them low cost, lack clear incorporation into policies on health promotion and primary disease prevention despite their wide uses and benefits. An overarching approach to maximize their use, guide their long-term development, and prevent potential misuse has not fully come to fruition. The aim of this policy statement is to advocate for a national-level framework for evidence-based use of TCIH-related practices for primary disease prevention in health promotion policies and to provide action steps to further understand and expand their impact on NCD modifiable risk factors.