Prime Minister Narendra Modi placed ancient healing systems at the forefront of the international health agenda by launching the Traditional Medicine Global Library (TMGL) in New Delhi.
Addressing the closing ceremony of the Second WHO Global Summit on Traditional Medicine at Bharat Mandapam, the Prime Minister unveiled the digital platform as a shared international resource designed to anchor Ayurveda, Yoga, and other ancient systems in rigorous scientific research and evidence-based care. This initiative fulfils a key commitment made during India’s G20 presidency and marks a significant shift from fragmented, regional knowledge to a unified global repository.
The new digital library hosts comprehensive content from 194 countries, providing a single global platform for scientific data, research papers, and policy documents. By consolidating this information, the TMGL aims to enable safer integration of traditional practices into national health systems while ensuring that every nation has equal access to authentic, verified information. Prime Minister Modi noted that the three-day summit in the capital reflected a modern convergence of tradition and technology, with experts deliberating on the use of artificial intelligence, digital tools, and global standards to validate ancient wisdom for the modern age.
During his address, the Prime Minister highlighted India’s growing leadership in this sector, noting that the WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine is already operational in Jamnagar. To further bolster this infrastructure, he inaugurated the new WHO South-East Asia Regional Office Complex in Delhi, which will serve as a hub for regulation and capacity building.
He also launched the "My Ayush Integrated Services Portal" and introduced the "Ayush Mark," a new global quality benchmark intended to standardise products and services across the industry. These steps are aimed at addressing modern lifestyle diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer, which the Prime Minister described as a “global urgency” driven by internal imbalances.
The summit concluded with the adoption of the Delhi Declaration, a strategic roadmap for international cooperation on safety standards and professional training. Prime Minister Modi also announced new measures to strengthen integrative cancer care by combining traditional systems with modern oncology. To recognise those advancing these causes, he presented the Prime Minister’s Awards for Outstanding Contribution to the Promotion and Development of Yoga and released a technical report by the WHO on global yoga training standards.
These developments represent a concerted effort by the Indian government to lead a global movement towards holistic health, supported by clinical studies and a burgeoning ecosystem of local start-ups.