Withania

Tradition as a living system: A framework to bridge traditional knowledge with contemporary needs

The tension between traditional medicine systems and evidence-based medicine has been a source of challenge and debate in recent years. However traditional medicine is off to a good start in 2024 with a groundbreaking Australian study, published two months ago, providing important insights on how to better bridge the gap between traditional knowledge and contemporary health care to achieve appropriate and effective implementation of traditional evidence. The Contemporary Implementation of Traditional Knowledge and Evidence in Health (CITE) Framework was developed to support translation of traditional knowledge, from traditional medicine systems with written historical records, for use in modern-day research, education, policy and health care practice. 

The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommend the integration of traditional and complementary medicine into health care services as one important strategy to help improve health service delivery and health outcomes however its integration into a dominant health care system needs to be supported by quality evidence. The CITE Framework was designed with the intention of being accessible and useful to people both inside and outside of traditional medicine systems who wish to engage with traditional medicine knowledge in a meaningful way. It is comprised of three sections which each include guiding principles and criteria to approach traditional knowledge as a source of evidence, how to evaluate sources of traditional knowledge and how to integrate it into a contemporary setting. 

This project is the result of more than 10 years of research led by Associate Professor Amie Steel and Dr Hope Foley, working with stakeholders of traditional medicine systems from research, education, policy and practice to understand their experiences of using traditional knowledge, or using research, policies or interventions based on such traditional knowledge. Educational institutions, traditional, complementary and integrative medicine journals, and practitioner organisations from around the world have already expressed interest in adopting the framework in their activities. The authors believe that this framework will be critical to providing a rigorous, robust and respectful guide for selecting, evaluating and applying traditional knowledge in contemporary contexts.

The CITE Framework can be downloaded here.

References

Steel A, Foley H, Adams J, Bugarcic A, Leach M, Wardle J (2023). Contemporary Implementation of Traditional Knowledge and Evidence in Health (CITE) Framework. Ultimo, Australia: Australian Research Consortium in Complementary and Integrative Medicine, University of Technology Sydney.

Foley H, Bugarcic A, Adams J, Wardle J, Leach M, Steel A. Criteria for the selection, evaluation and application of traditional knowledge in contemporary health practice, education, research and policy: A systematic review. Health Info Libr J. 2023 Sep;40(3):233-261. doi: 10.1111/hir.12499. Pub 2023 Aug 2. PMID: 37531012.