New Delhi (ABC Live): For most of modern history, global power came from weapons, money, trade routes, and technology. However, today a new kind of power is rising very fast: health power. Instead of force and finance alone, countries now shape influence through wellness systems, mental strength, and preventive care models.

At the same time, healthcare itself is also changing. Earlier, governments mainly focused on treating disease after it appeared. Now, however, because costs keep rising and people live longer with stress-based illness, the global focus is steadily shifting toward preventing disease before it begins. As a result, traditional medicine is clearly returning to the centre of global health policy—this time through science, rules, and diplomacy.

Therefore, the WHO Global Summit on Traditional Medicine is no longer a routine health event. Instead, it has now become a global rule-making platform where the future of healthcare, insurance, trade, and mental-health policy is being shaped.

Why India, China, and the WHO Are Now at the Same Table

On one side, India enters with Ayurveda, Yoga, and the WHO-recognised Ayush system. At the same time, it carries global trust and policy leadership. On the other side, however, China advances with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Meanwhile, it relies on state hospitals, overseas clinics, and the Health Silk Road. Therefore, what looks like a health debate is, in reality, a quiet contest over global influence, mental-health control, and future health markets.

At the same time, the world also faces a hidden crisis. For example, mental stress, sleep problems, anxiety, and lifestyle disease now spread faster than any virus. Consequently, governments are under growing pressure to find low-cost, safe, and scalable solutions. In this context, Yoga and traditional medicine offer what drug-only systems often cannot: long-term balance without long-term dependence.

Moreover, this shift became official when India began the countdown to the 2nd WHO Global Summit on Traditional Medicine (New Delhi, December 2025), as confirmed by PIB:
👉 https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=2200569&reg=3&lang=1

1. Why Traditional Medicine Is No Longer “Alternative”

For many years, traditional medicine remained outside the main healthcare system. As a result, policymakers often called it “alternative”. Similarly, regulators treated it with doubt. Meanwhile, insurance systems mostly ignored it.

However, the global health scene has now changed. Today, countries face new pressures. For instance:

• More heart disease and diabetes
• A wider mental-health crisis
• High healthcare costs
• And, just as importantly, a strong need for early prevention

Because of this pressure, policy thinking has also shifted. Today, traditional medicine stands for prevention rather than reaction. Likewise, it also stands for low cost, community care, and mental balance. As a result, the full logic of traditional medicine has changed.

As a direct result, the key policy question has changed, too. Governments no longer ask if they should adopt traditional medicine. Instead, they now ask how fast and under what safety rules it should happen.

2. Why the WHO Summit Is Now a Global Rule-Making Platform

The first WHO Global Summit on Traditional Medicine (Gujarat, 2023) changed global thinking. At that moment, traditional medicine formally moved into global health planning. Likewise, it also entered safety rules and digital health systems.

Now, in addition, the 2025 New Delhi Summit will push this shift even further. Specifically, it will shape:

• Global research goals
• Clinical proof rules
• Safety checks
• Digital health records
• And, finally, insurance approval

In global politics, rules create power. Therefore, the nation that shapes the rules also shapes the market. As a consequence, the WHO Summit has clearly become a battlefield for the future wellness economy.

At the same time, traditional medicine now links directly with modern drug science. For example, ABC Live has shown how mixing traditional care with modern testing can boost India’s pharma power:
👉 https://abclive.in/2025/11/07/explained-how-india-can-benefit-from-integrated-pharmacology/

3. WHO Recognition: From Culture to Global Health Policy

For many decades, traditional medicine and Yoga remained outside formal WHO systems. However, this changed once WHO gave full policy space to this field.

Today, the WHO backs Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine (TCIM) through:

• The WHO Traditional Medicine Strategy
• The WHO Global Traditional Medicine Centre (GTMC), Jamnagar
• And the WHO Global Summits

As a result, traditional medicine is now part of global research rules. Additionally, it now sits inside world safety standards. Likewise, it has entered health data systems and Universal Health Coverage planning.

WHO Recognition of Yoga

At the same time, Yoga holds a special place because the WHO sees it as a safe public-health tool. Moreover, it is widely used for stress, mental health, and lifestyle care. In addition, the UN also recognises Yoga through the International Day of Yoga (21 June). Therefore, Yoga now enjoys both cultural trust and global policy trust.

4. India’s Strategy: From Heritage to Global Rule-Maker

India’s approach is policy-driven and future-focused. More importantly, it aims at long-term leadership, not only exports.

First, the Ministry of Ayush gives Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani, Siddha, Sowa-Rigpa, and Homoeopathy full national support.
Second, the WHO-GTMC in Jamnagar makes India a global policy hub.
Third, the Ayush Grid, linked with Ayushman Bharat, connects traditional medicine with digital health and public insurance.
Finally, by hosting both the 2023 and 2025 WHO Summits, India now controls:

• Global agenda
• Health messaging
• Policy design
• Diplomatic reach

As a result, India is steadily moving from being a herb exporter to a true global rule-setter.

5. China’s Parallel Traditional Medicine Strategy

Meanwhile, China follows a very different path. Its model is clearly state-led and clinic-based.

China has:

• TCM in public hospitals
• Large TCM universities
• Overseas clinics
• Health Silk Road projects

Because of this, China builds control through clinics, loans, and medical staff.
In contrast, India builds trust through the WHO rules, global policy, and Yoga-led acceptance.

6. Ayurveda vs TCM: A Quiet Global Contest

This is not about culture alone. Instead, it is about who becomes the global reference for non-Western medicine.

Therefore, the winner will shape the future language of global wellness.

7. The Trillion-Dollar Wellness Economy

Today, wellness includes:

• Herbal drugs
• Nutrition products
• Yoga programs
• Mental-health care
• Wellness tourism

Since WHO approval decides what counts as “safe,” it also decides who earns the most.
For example, if Ayurveda leads, India gains exports. If TCM leads instead, China locks clinic markets.
Hence, the Summit clearly works like a pre-trade deal for health markets.

At the people level, Ayurveda already shapes women’s preventive health:
👉 https://abclive.in/2025/10/18/ayurveda-for-women-at-menopause/

8. Yoga as India’s Strongest Soft-Power Health Tool

Yoga needs:

• No factories
• No patents
• No medicine supply

Because of this, it spreads faster than any drug system.
Moreover, today Yoga works inside:

• Schools
• Armies
• Offices
• Mental-health clinics

Most importantly, Yoga controls stress at 10–20% of drug costs, without side effects.
So, if Ayurveda builds India’s health trade, Yoga clearly builds India’s global health image.

9. The Global South and Health Choice

Africa, Asia, and island nations now face a clear choice.

India offers:

• Policy design
• Digital tools
• Indigenous protection

China offers:

• Ready hospitals
• Loans
• Medical staff

Thus, access grows under both, but control shifts in very different ways.

10. Risks in the New Health Politics

Three risks now stand out:

1. WHO rules may turn political
2. Small local systems may be pushed aside
3. Indigenous data and plants may be taken without fair return

Therefore, fairness and shared benefit are now global health priorities.

11. Why the 2025 Delhi Summit Is a Turning Point

By hosting it, India gains:
✅ Agenda control
✅ Policy voice
✅ Global trust
✅ Health diplomacy power

China still has clinics.
However, India now shapes the rules.

12. THE BOTTOM LINE

The WHO Global Summit on Traditional Medicine now decides who will shape future healthcare rules, insurance approval, mental-health care, and wellness trade.

India enters as:
✅ The Yoga-led soft-health power
✅ The WHO-backed rule-setter

China enters as:
✅ The clinic-led medical exporter

In the long run, the winner will be the system that keeps people calm, healthy, and productive at the lowest cost.
Right now, that edge belongs to Yoga and WHO-recognised traditional medicine.