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Sammanfattning

Globally, health care increasingly faces challenges of an aging population, chronic multifactorial diseases and mental health problems. Currently, we lack good knowledge about how best to treat and allocate resources to meet these challenges. The World Health Organization (WHO) in their Traditional Medicine Strategy 2014-2023 argue that countries need to mobilize all positive forces in cooperation, and point to the potentiality of also including the informal health sector in this ambition. Exercise, diet, massage, acupuncture and mindfulness-based cognitive therapy are some examples that have emerged in recent years as possible elements in the treatment of certain chronic medical conditions. Such complementary strategies are often relatively free of side effects and can contribute to greater economic and social sustainability. The ambition to utilize “the best of both worlds” is the basis of the field of integrative health care, which of course must be safe and effective, and where results from pragmatic clinical trials can contribute to evidenceinformed decision making.

MeSH