2002 Volume 91 Issue Supplement-Sep Pages 159-163
Throughout past millennia, human beings have shared the common goal of improving health for longevity. However, different cultures around the world have developed their own approaches to achieve this goal. Various traditions have emerged, rendering distinct medical systems such as Ayurveda, Yoga, Chinese-Japanese medicine, shamanism, and Native American healing. Traditional medicine involves a holistic approach to the human body to integrate healing with culture, environment, and tradition. Modern allopathic medicine originated from Greco-Roman Medicine and Northern European traditions and is built on the science of anatomy, physiology, and biochemistry and the structure-function relationship between cells, tissues, and organs. This foundation focuses on diagnosis, treatment, and cure for acute illnesses via potent pharmaceutical drugs, surgery, radiation, and other treatment modalities. Within this past century, we have doubled the life-span of human beings. Genomic medicine, including stem cell research, cloning, and gene therapy, will increase our capability to treat even more diseases. In the new millennium, we face more chronic illnesses related to aging, environment, and lifestyle, such as cancer, diabetes. osteoporosis, and cardiovascular diseases. Thus, health care providers face the challenge of prospecting for health and disease prevention. Modern science and medical advancements provide the rationale for the integration of various traditional healing techniques, which have been termed Alternative and Complementary Medicine, to promote healing, health, and longevity. Advances in medicine must include the holistic approach of traditional medicine to face the current challenges in health care. Therefore, the New World of Medicine must fuse the antiquity of ancient healing with the innovations of modern medicine to increase life-expectancy and improve quality of life throughout the world.
