Turkish first lady stresses importance of plants for medical treatment

By Irem Demir, Umit Turk, and Cagla Koc

ISTANBUL (AA) – Türkiye’s first lady on Friday stressed the significance of using plants for medicinal purposes, underlining that plant-based treatments are gaining ground worldwide.

Emine Erdogan, the wife of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, said: "One of the most ancient sources where healing is sought is undoubtedly the plant kingdom, which contains countless species that are still undiscovered. Today, treatment with plants, known as phytotherapy, has become a scientifically valid, evidence-based treatment method."

Speaking in Istanbul at the 15th Annual Meeting of the World Health Organization (WHO)-International Regulatory Cooperation for Herbal Medicines and a Traditional and Complementary Medicine Practices Guide and Strategy Development Workshop co-hosted by the Turkish Health Ministry, she said that she was very pleased to meet with scientists from Türkiye and around the world.

Telling how maintaining health and stemming the spread of disease have long been concerns of humanity, Erdogan said that people have used plants to treat illnesses for thousands of years.

Pointing out that they know plant-derived medication is still used to treat many diseases today, she said, "Anatolian lands have an exceptional place in the field of treatment with plants," adding that Anatolia is home to a total of 12,000 plant species, including at least 3,000 native varieties.

"The discoveries and works written by countless scholars, from Razi to Ibn Sina, from Hippocrates to Galen, are still waiting to be discovered by our scientists," she said.

Erdogan also said the fight against disease has long been one of the main issues of humanity, even as its form has change.

"We cannot deny the importance of the progress made in diagnosis with the development of technology,” she said. “But on the other hand, increasing chronic diseases and excessive drug use have strengthened the opinion that it is necessary to reconsider health policies all over the world. At this point, WHO encourages the inclusion of traditional and complementary medicine methods in the health systems of countries."

In addition to the first lady, attendees at the meeting included Health Minister Fahrettin Koca, Deputy Health Minister Huzeyfe Yilmaz, Health Services General Director Ihsan Ates, WHO Regional Director for Europe Dr. Hans Kluge, WHO's Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine Unit head Dr. Kim Sungchol and Dr. Charles Wu, vice chair of WHO's International Regulatory Cooperation for Herbal Medicine.