About the TCIM Americas Network
The Traditional, Complementary, and Integrative Medicine Network for the Americas (TCIM Americas Network) is a collaborative initiative, created with the objective of interconnecting several stakeholders involved in the formulation of policies, regulation, training, promotion, practice, use and research of TCIM in the Americas. The aim is to develop a common agenda and advance in the integration of TCIM in healthcare systems and services according to each national context.
The TCIM Americas Network is an inclusive, horizontal-governance initiative, currently gathering several organizations from 15 countries of the Americas, and continuously growing. The TCIM Americas Network was established in June 2017 by a group of delegates in the Regional Meeting “Advancing Towards Universal Health: Contributions of Traditional and Complementary Medicine”, in Managua, Nicaragua (click here to know more about the event).
Since its establishment, the TCIM Americas Network took over the management of the Virtual Health Library on Traditional, Complementary, and Integrative Medicine (VHL TCIM). This Network is responsible for the content and development of the portal, and also, of the specialized TCIM database, with the technical support from BIREME/PAHO/WHO.
Mission
The TCIM Americas Network is a “network of networks” that gathers together institutions and organizations which formulate policies, regulate, train health professionals, carry out research, develop programs, and educate the general public about the Traditional, Complementary, and Integrative Medicine, (TCIM) and related health practices. Through collaboration and knowledge management, the Network seeks to support decision-making in health, strengthen the capacities of professionals and managers in TCIM, including research, to contribute to the well-being of people, and the development to systems of health more inclusive and sustainable, to advance towards Universal Health.
Vision
To be a global reference in network management to enhance the contribution of the MTCI to the well-being of people, and to the sustainability of health systems, through informed decision making, access to information and collaboration between health authorities, the academy, indigenous and/ or Afro-descendant organizations, professional associations, service providers, among others.
Mechanisms of collaboration
The TCIM Americas Network has members in the following categories:
Health authorities and regulatory agencies
Academia (professional training programs in TCIM, research groups)
Indigenous and/or Afro-descendant organizations
Professional associations at TCIM
National or international networks
Providers of health care services and public health programs
NGOs that act in MTCI
Objectives
- To establish cooperation ties among all stakeholders in countries of the Americas for the development of the different aspects of TCIM: development of public policies, regulation (of practices, products, and practitioners), training of health professionals, research, health education, and the provision of healthcare services.
- To compile and systematize technical, scientific, regulatory and public policy information, in TCIM area in the Americas, throughout a specialized database and the portal of the VHL TCIM, as well as the collaboration among stakeholders at regional levels.
- To manage the VHL TCIM, as a meeting point of several stakeholders who work in TCIM in the Americas, with the purpose of developing a regional outlook about the different aspects of TCIM, facilitating the exchange of experiences, facilitating access to scientific, technical and health education information, supporting the strengthening of capabilities and visibility of good practices.
- To promote collaborative research in TCIM in the Americas
- To encourage, in a participatory way, the rescue of ancestral knowledge, including traditional indigenous medicine, Afro-descendant medicine and the different medical systems from other ethnical diversities.
- To promote the worldwide visibility of public policies, models of integration and implementation of the TCIM in health systems, as well as the conceptual developments, knowledge, and practices of traditional medicine, and research in TCIM developed in the Americas.
- To support decision-making processes for TCIM integration to healthcare systems and services in the Americas, according to each national context, following the recommendations of the WHO Traditional Medicine Strategy (2014-2023).
Members
The TCIM Americas Network is in process of consolidation. With less than a year of operation, it has participating institutions from 15 countries, as well as associated international and extra-regional collaboration networks.
The following institutions/organizations actively take part in the TCIM Americas Network:
Argentina
- Integrative Medicine team, Garrahan Pediatrics Hospital
- Fundación de Salud Ayurveda Prema
- Department of Homeopathy, University of Maimonides
- SAMH. Argentine Society of Homeopathic Medicine
Bolivia
- Ministry of Health
- Institute of Pharmacobiochemical Research, University of San Andres
Brazil
- National Coordination of Integrative and Complementary Practices (PICS); Ministry of Health Care / Ministry of Public Health
- Special Secretary for Indigenous Health, Ministry of Health
- Consórcio Acadêmico Brasileiro de Saúde Integrativa
- The network of Social Actors in Comprehensive and Complementary Practices in Health -REDEPICS
- Paulista Homeopathic Association
- Instituto Aggeu Magalhães- Fundação Oswaldo Cruz de Pernambuco
- Virtual Health Library in Homeopathy- BVS Homeopatia -HOMEOINDEX
Chile
- Department of Pharmaceutical Policies and Regulations, Health Providers and Complementary Medicines – Division of Healthy Public Policies and Promotion (DIPOL), Secretary of Public Health, Ministry of Health
- Department of Health and Indigenous Peoples and Interculturality, Ministry of Health
Colombia
- BVS Colombia
- Workgroup on Alternative Medicine and Complementary Therapies, Ministry of Health and Social Protection
- Nueva Granada Militar University
- Master in Alternative Medicine, National University of Colombia
- Juan N Corpas University Foundation
- Luis G Paez University Foundation
- The academic research team “Health, medical knowledge, and society”. Externado University of Colombia
- Center for Intercultural Medical Studies CEMI. University of Rosario
Cuba
- Provincial Division of Public Health of Havana, Department of Natural and Traditional Medicine
- Program of Natural and Traditional Medicine, Ministry of Public Health
- Infomed
- National School of Public Health
- Cuban Society of Bioenergetic Medicine
- National Center for Clinical Trials Coordinator (CENCEC)
- Center for the State Control of Medicines, Equipment and Medical Devices (CECMED)
Equador
- Nacional Division of Intercultural Health, Ministry of Health
- AEMEMI Ecuatorian Association of experts physicians on integrative medicine
Guatemala
- General Division of Research, University of San Carlos of Guatemala
Mexico
- Traditional Medicine and Intercultural Development Division, Ministry of Health
- National School of Medicine and Homeopathy, Polytechnic National Institute (IPN)
- Master in Homeopathy and Master in Acupuncture, Polytechnic National Institute (IPN)
- Homeopathic National Hospital
Nicaragua
- Institute of Natural Medicine and Complementary Therapies (IMNTC), Ministry of Health
Paraguay
- Universidad Nacional de Asunción
Peru
- Complementary Medicine Management, Social Security of Peru, EsSalud
- Red BVS Perú
- Comité Medicina Tradicional, Alternativa, y Complementaria- Colegio Médico del Perú
United States
- Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine-JACM
- Integrative, Complementary and Traditional Health Practices Section of the American Public Health Association-ICTHP- APHA
- Academy of Integrative Health & Medicine- AIHM
- Academic Collaborative for Integrative Health- ACIH
International Network
- Network for the Ibero-American Integration of Medical Research in Homeopathy (REDIMEH)
- TRAMIL Network
