THE ROLE OF TRADITIONAL, COMPLEMENTARY AND INTEGRATIVE MEDICINE PRACTICES IN GLOBAL HEALTH SYSTEMS: AN ECOLOGICAL ANALYSIS

This study aims to examine the structural characteristics of Traditional, Complementary and Integrative Medicine (TCIM) systems within global health systems and their association with socioeconomic indicators. Designed as an ecological study, the research evaluates TCIM indicators from 103 countries based on data obtained from the WHO TCIM Dashboard. Key variables include the presence of national legislation on TCIM, responsible national bodies, university-level education, national research institutes, and payment systems. Their associations with health expenditure per capita and the Human Development Index (HDI) were analysed. Data were analysed using SPSS v25.0; Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests were used for group comparisons, while the chi-square test was applied to categorical variables. The findings revealed significant structural differences in TCIM systems across countries. Countries with national TCIM legislation had significantly higher HDI scores (p=0.027), and HDI was also higher in countries with national research institutes (p=0.008). Significant regional differences were observed in the distribution of TCIM structural indicators across WHO regions. In conclusion, the level of institutionalization of TCIM systems appears to be associated with countries’ development indicators, and integration into health systems is not equally distributed globally.