With its focus on health maintenance and disease prevention, demand for greater knowledge and use of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) throughout the world continues to increase.

World Health Organization (WHO) on Health and Traditional Chinese Medicine

It is important to understand what is meant by the word 'health'. The World Health Organization define health as "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity."

The World Health Organization recognizes the use of acupuncture in the treatment of a wide range of health problems. In a publication "Acupuncture: The WHO View", the World Health Organization found that acupuncture was indicated in treating the following conditions:
(Bannerman R H 1979 Acupuncture: the WHO View. World Health, December, p27-28.)

The US National Institutes of Health issued a consensus statement on acupuncture in 1997, which states that "acupuncture as a therapeutic intervention is practiced widely in the United States... and ... promising results have emerged showing the efficacy of acupuncture". The NIH further states that "there is sufficient evidence of acupuncture's value to expand its use into conventional medicine and to encourage further studies of its physiology and clinical value." The NIH report mentions that the efficacy of acupuncture has been found in the following conditions: 
(NIH Consensus Statement on Acupuncture November 3-5, 1997. Vol.15 No.5.)