Summary

In many countries, Traditional Chinese Medicine has acquired a status similar to other historical healthcare systems that are not at all or only partially legitimated by modern science, such as Ayurveda and homeopathy. They all contribute in one way or another to the health of the public. And yet, Chinese medicine eludes inclusion in modern, global public health concepts. Its focus on the individual patient-healer relationship, its diverse non-Chinese terminologies, often developed by individuals regardless of the historical meaning of the original Chinese terms, and an increasingly uncoordinated development of TCM in China and the rest of the world, with heterogenous educational standards resulting in very different skill levels of practitioners, make it impossible to draw far-reaching conclusions and contribute generalizable suggestions for the continued improvement of global public health.