Acupuncture (AP) in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)

NOMENCLATURE

• Akerele_O (1991) WHO and the development of AP nomenclature: overcoming a Tower of Babel. AJCM 19(1):89-94. Programme Manager, Traditional Med Programme, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. At present, WHO does not have an official policy on AP. The Organization's policies are usually developed after a debate has taken place on a particular health issue. There has not yet been a debate on AP. This paper reviews WHO's efforts to produce a standard AP nomenclature as a first step towards ensuring that a debate on AP takes place in an atmosphere of greater understanding of the contribution that AP can make in the delivery of health care.
• WHO (1990) A standard international AP nomenclature: memorandum from a WHO meeting. Bull World Health Organ 68(2):165-169. The WHO Scientific Group to Adopt a Standard International AP Nomenclature met in Geneva from 30 Oct to 3 Nov 1989. The main features of the recommended nomenclature are the use of the English translation of the name of each Channel and an alphanumeric code derived from the English names, and the use of the Chinese phonetic alphabet (Pinyin) names and the Han character names of the Channels and AP points. This standard nomenclature will facilitate the teaching, research and clinical practice of AP, as well as exchange of information globally.