MDNIY designated as WHO Collaborating Centre in Traditional Medicine

May 22, 2013

The Department of Yoga Therapy and Training of Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga (MDNIY) has been designated as WHO Collaborating Centre in Traditional Medicine for a period of four years. MDNIY had started collaborating with WHO Country Office in 2008 under the biennium programme of traditional medicine and developed Yoga Resource Centre and brought out disease-specific booklets of Yogic interventions for healthcare.
About MDNIY
MDNIY is an autonomous organization under the Department of AYUSH, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare. The institute is established as a Centre of Excellence for undertaking activities of education, training, therapy and research in Yoga. MDNIY is involved in multifarious Yoga promotion and propagation activities.
What are WHO Collaborating Centres?
WHO collaborating centres are institutions such as research institutes, parts of universities or academies, which are designated by the Director-General of WHO to carry out activities in support of the Organization’s programmes. WHO does not have its own institutional network but identifies institutions from member countries to work in specific areas of health and designate them as WHO Collaborating Centres. Currently, there are over 800 WHO collaborating centres in over 80 Member States working with WHO on areas such as nursing, occupational health, communicable diseases, nutrition, mental health, chronic diseases and health technologies all over the world.

What is the status of WHO Collaborating Centres in India?
There are 21 WHO Collaborating Centres for Traditional Medicine across the globe, but none in India in spite of having a large number of AYUSH institutions and 32 Collaborating Centres for Modern Medicine. For this matter, two AYUSH institutions namely Morarji Desai National Institute of Yoga, New Delhi and Institute of Postgraduate Teaching & Research in Ayurveda, Jamnagar, Gujarathave now been designated as WHO collaborating centres in traditional medicine.
What will be the role of WHO Collaborating Centres for Traditional Medicine?
The WHO Collaborating Centres for Traditional Medicine is meant to assist in implementing WHO strategies and resolutions relating to traditional medicine. The priority area of work for WHO Collaborating Centres of Traditional Medicine is to generate evidence-based information on the safety, quality, and cost-effectiveness of traditional medicine products and therapies.
What are the activities intended to be covered by MDNIY as WHO Collaborating Centre?
The following activities will be carried out:

Preparation and dissemination of consumer information on proper use of Yoga.
Organization of capacity building workshops and training programmers on the role, scope, practice and evidence -based use of Yoga in non-communicable disease.
Development and dissemination of standardized health promotion Yoga modules for various target groups (Children, Adolescents and Women of reproductive age, Geriatric population, and Mental Health promotion).
Meta-analysis of Yoga research studies for documentation and promotion of evidence-based uses of Yoga.

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