On August 24, Premier Li Keqiang attended the third video conference of leaders of the Lancang - Mekong River Cooperation, *** to talk about the love of a river, *** to seek cooperation and development. Li Keqiang said, with the Lancang region countries to carry out information notification and joint disposal of major public **** health incidents, to strengthen the collective response to future public **** health incidents and resilience, the implementation of the "Herbal Benefit Lancang" "Chinese medicine and acupuncture into Lancang "The program will be well implemented.
In 2020, the Chinese Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine declared and was approved to set up two projects, namely, "Herbal Medicine for Mekong" and "Acupuncture and Moxibustion in Mekong", which are centered on the development of the traditional medicine industry in Mekong countries, and serve the people of Mekong Basin countries (China, Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Vietnam, and Cambodia).
At present, traditional medicine has become a new highlight of cooperation among the six Lancang-Mekong countries, which will inject a new "source of living water" for the development of the region.
The Lancang River, which originated in the Tanggula Mountains of Qinghai Province, flows through Tibet and Yunnan Province, crosses high mountains and valleys, and is known as the Mekong River after exiting from Xishuangbanna. It flows successively through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam, and flows for 4,880 kilometers, finally flowing into the South China Sea.
One river connects six countries, Lancang River and Mekong River is not only a natural link between the six countries of Lancang Mekong, but also the cradle of the people along the coast for generations, giving birth to the Lancang Mekong countries with their own unique and similar cultures, and forming the economic and humanistic ties between the countries with a long history and deep and extensive.
From June 2017 to April 2018, Huang Luqi, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and his team set foot on the land of Laos three times to carry out fieldwork. These three field trips made the researchers feel both excited and sorry. The Lancang Basin countries are rich in wild plant resources, but many medicinal plants are only used in folklore and have not yet been recorded, let alone effectively protected. The use of modern science and technology for research, protection and development is far from adequate.
"Who is afraid of a bamboo stick and shoes that are lighter than a horse!" Huang Luqi team and Laotian researchers eat and sleep, rain and wind, *** with the investigation of medicinal resources. Team members traveled through the rolling hills and vast virgin forests of Laos, found 214 families, 1014 genera and 2165 species (including varieties) of wild medicinal plants in Laos, not only to clarify the distribution of vegetation where the distribution of the location, geographic environment and its community regulation of the basic resource information, but also collected the corresponding samples for subsequent experimental research to do the preparations. In addition, the team also went into the market to visit and investigate the distribution of herbs in Laos, to understand the current situation of the purchase, processing and distribution of local herbs. The team found that the quantity of wild resources in some of the centralized collection sites has been declining year by year due to the continuous excavation of wild resources, and the quality has also declined relatively.
How to utilize the rich local wild plant resources and rationally develop and utilize the local wild medicinal plant resources has become an urgent need for the countries in the Lancang Basin.
In 2018, commissioned by the Lao government, the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region Medicinal Botanical Garden, the Chinese Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and the Lao Institute of Traditional Medicine*** jointly compiled and researched the Lao Herbal Pharmacopoeia, which has become the first quality standard for herbal medicine in Laos.
The President of Laos, Mr. Benjamin Vorachit, spoke highly of the compilation of the Lao Herbal Pharmacopoeia, and thanked the Chinese Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine (CAMC) and Academician Huang Luqi's team for their important role in the compilation of the Lao Herbal Pharmacopoeia. President Benjan expressed his hope that CAMS will continue to help Laos to do a good job in the census of medicinal resources as well as the scientific research of traditional medicine, and help Laos to protect, develop, build, and utilize the traditional medicine well, to improve the level of medical protection for the Lao people, and to let the Lao people gain more benefits in health care.
Medicine and Medicine in Lancang-Mekong, Silver Needle for Health
There are 16 ethnic groups in the Lancang-Mekong subregion that are cross-border ethnic groups of China, and these ethnic groups share the same humanities, and their traditional medicines are intertwined with each other, which constitutes a regional culture of traditional medicine that is "harmonious but different". Traditional medicine has also become one of the key areas of cooperation among Lancang-Mekong countries. However, most of the countries in the Lancang-Mekong basin are in the critical period of industrialization and urbanization, with weak infrastructure, a large number of poor people, uneven development of regional health, poor health conditions at the grassroots level, and a weak awareness of health among the people.
Since 2013, the Chinese Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine has cooperated with Chulalongkorn University and Queen Dowager University of Thailand in the areas of traditional medicine research, new drug research and development, and personnel exchanges and visits; and has carried out a number of health consultations and academic exchanges with the General Association of Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners of Thailand. President exchanged experiences in TCM medical treatment, education, scientific research and drug development, etc. In 2017, CAMS established cooperation with Myanmar Department of Traditional Medicine - Myanmar University of Traditional Medicine in terms of medicinal plant resources.In 2018, Academician Huang Luqi, President of CAMS, expressed his views on how to promote the development and utilization of medicinal plants between China and Lao People's Democratic Republic. development and utilization of medicinal plants, and had in-depth exchanges with the Minister of Health of Laos and the Vice President of the Institute of Traditional Medicine of Laos, etc., and the two sides signed the Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation between the Chinese Medicine Resource Center of the China Academy of Chinese Medicine and the Institute of Traditional Medicine of the Ministry of Health of Laos. At the same time, the Chinese Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine has sent experts to Vietnam five times in two years to carry out Chinese medicine and health care services for Vietnamese leaders, and achieved good results. 2020, at the invitation of the Cambodian Ministry of Health, and under the guidance of WHO officials, will cooperate with WHO and Cambodia to carry out malaria prevention and control and elimination work in the Greater Mekong Basin.
In order to better carry out cooperation in the field of traditional medicine, in 2019, based on its previous profound cooperation with the Lancang countries, the Chinese Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine applied to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs for the programs "Herbal Medicine Benefits Lancang" and "Traditional Chinese Medicine Acupuncture in Lancang".
According to the plan, the "Herbal Benefits to Mekong" project introduces China's TCM development model and experience through cooperation and exchange in the field of TCM, and helps the Mekong basin countries to set up traditional medicine industry bases, and gradually form an integrated development model of cultivation, research and development, industry, market, and application of medicinal plant resources, thus providing more jobs and promoting the economy for local people. This will provide more jobs for local people and promote economic development. At the same time, the Chinese Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine also sends experts to carry out multi-level and all-round capacity building activities, such as seedling cultivation, personnel training, joint research, information exchange and technical support, to set up a team of professional talents, and to guide and train local farmers in standardized cultivation of medicinal plants. At present, the Thai side has established a Chinese medicine and herbal medicine laboratory, herbal medicine factory, the two sides are preparing to build a new drug screening and R & D cooperation platform.
The relevant person in charge of the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine said that in the future, the focus will be on the conservation and utilization of medicinal resources in the countries in the Lancang Basin, including the theory of traditional medicine, medicinal resources investigation and research techniques, cultivation of medicinal resources, medicinal resources specimens, samples of medicinal herbs, and germplasm resources and other physical collection methods, as well as the sustainable use of medicinal resources, the development of the traditional medicine industry, and other related technologies and methods; at the same time, during the training process to promote the development of traditional medicine industry and other related technologies. At the same time, during the training process, the concept of conservation and utilization of traditional Chinese medicine resources will be publicized, the knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine resources will be popularized, and the complementary advantage of technology and resources will be promoted, so as to serve the countries of the Mekong Basin to improve the level of development and application of traditional medicines.
The "Acupuncture and Moxibustion in Mekong" project will promote and disseminate the technology and experience of acupuncture and moxibustion to the countries in the Mekong Basin, and carry out a series of education, clinical and scientific research on acupuncture and moxibustion, as well as research on the policy of traditional medicine in the Mekong Basin countries, which will provide an important guarantee for the promotion of the health of the people in these countries. On the one hand, it will popularize the knowledge of TCM preventive health care and benefit the people of the Lancang region; on the other hand, it will carry out the training of appropriate technology such as acupuncture and moxibustion in the light of the health needs of the Lancang countries, and at the same time, it will strengthen the cooperation among the medical research institutions of the six countries.
The person in charge said that the Chinese Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine will carry out theoretical and technical training on Chinese medicine for the countries in the Mekong Basin, publicize the knowledge of Chinese medicine on life and health and the maintenance of health, popularize the knowledge of Chinese medicine on preventive health care, enhance the people's understanding of Chinese medicine, such as acupuncture, and promote the culture of traditional Chinese medicine and the concept of health, and improve the level of health education for the people of the Mekong region. In terms of acupuncture and other appropriate technologies, we will carry out research and development of teaching, customize courseware, invite the other side to come to China for training and internship, or send well-known Chinese medicine practitioners and acupuncture specialists to the other side to give lectures and clinical teaching, so as to train acupuncture doctors for the Lancang countries. At the same time to the other side of the hospital, community to carry out the popularization of Chinese medicine and acupuncture, and cooperation with local universities, training acupuncture teachers, scientific research project cooperation, in addition to Chinese medicine and acupuncture into the Lancang conference, technical training and demonstration, signing of cooperation agreements and Lancang countries to carry out policy research on traditional medicine, etc..
The landscape is connected, the people are connected. In the context of the great challenge to human development posed by the new coronary pneumonia epidemic, the cooperation of the six countries of the Mekong region in the field of traditional medicine will play a role in creating a healthy destiny***similarity between the Mekong countries and blessing the health of the people of the six countries. (Song Ping, Zhang Zijun and Li Haoyue)