project summary
traditional tibetan medicine project

project goals & context | project description | activities & achievements

project goals & context

Trace Foundation’s culture projects seek to preserve and further traditional aspects of Tibetan culture and society. Since 1998, Trace Foundation has supported the tradition of Tibetan medicine through projects that maintain the unique cultural and medical knowledge of this discipline. In 2004, Trace Foundation expanded this work through the establishment of the Traditional Tibetan Medicine Project (TTM), a three-year initiative designed to strengthen Tibetan medicine and provide high quality training for health workers who can in turn provide affordable, accessible health care to the people of Nakchu Prefecture in the Tibet Autonomous Region (TAR).

project goals & context | project description | activities & achievements

project description

With a history of approximately 2,500 years, Tibetan medicine is one of the oldest indigenous traditions in Tibetan culture. Tibetan medicine is a repository of rich cultural and botanical knowledge and is widely respected within Tibetan communities as it is a form of culturally accessible, affordable health care. Nakchu Prefecture has one of the richest Tibetan medicine traditions in China, and Tibetan medicine is often the only option for Nakchu widely scattered rural communities. Trace Foundation believes that when combined with public health initiatives and the modern medical system, Tibetan medicine can contribute to the overall well being of Tibetan communities while preserving a unique aspect of Tibetan culture. In partnership with educational and government institutions, this project expanded Trace Foundation’s previous health worker education programs in 6 additional counties, through:

Basic Tibetan medicine health worker training;
Clinic management training;
Medicinal herb recognition and sustainable herb collection;
Traditional Tibetan medicine documentation.
Increasing motivation for teachers and students;
Improving infrastructure and educational resources.

project goals & context | project description | activities & achievements

activities & achievements

Basic health worker training:

72 Tibetan medicine health care workers trained: 72 Tibetans from Pelgön and Tsonyi Counties completed a three-year training course in traditional Tibetan medicine, basic primary health care, and clinic management skills, earning a zhongzhuan degree from the Nakchu Vocational School.
26 Tibetan medicine health care workers received degrees: 26 Tibetans from four counties completed three-year dazhuan degrees at the Tibetan Medical College. An additional 26 are working towards completion of the degree.
72 sets of medical training materials and medicine kits distributed: All trainees and graduates received Tibetan language training materials and start-up Tibetan medical kits.

Clinic management training:

53 Tibetan medicine health care workers trained in clinic management: Health workers from previously-funded Trace TTM projects in Shentsa, Nyima, Sok, and Driru counties completed short-term training in clinic management. All trainees received training materials in Tibetan.
67 health care workers started new practices: Health care workers from previous Trace Foundation TTM training programs have started new Tibetan medicine practices since completing training in Shentsa, Nyima, Sok and Driru counties.
70% of trained Tibetan medicine health care workers applied new skills: Trace-supported Tibetan health care workers have begun using new tools to record medical activities such as patient registration, bookkeeping, stock management, and epidemiological surveys.

Medicinal herb identification and collection training:

176 Tibetan medicine health workers trained in medicinal plant recognition: Health care workers from both the TTM project and previous training programs were trained in the recognition, collection, and cataloging of 200 medicinal herbs collected from different counties. All trainees produced their own comprehensive catalogue of Tibetan medicinal herbs.

Traditional Tibetan medicine documentation:

3 prominent Tibetan medicine doctors interviewed: In-depth video interviews were conducted with three prominent Tibetan medicine doctors to collect and document their traditional knowledge. The interviews were used in the Tibetan medicine trainings and will be made available to the public.

project goals & context | project description | activities & achievements

project summary traditional tibetan medicine project

project goals & context

project description

activities & achievements

project: quick facts

project summary
traditional tibetan medicine project