Traditional medicine refers to the knowledge, skills and practices based on the theories, beliefs, and experiences indigenous to different cultures, used in the maintenance of health and in the prevention, diagnosis, improvement, or treatment of physical and mental illness.
Traditional medicine covers a wide variety of therapies and practices that vary from country to country and region to region. In some countries, it is referred to as "complementary" and "alternative" medicine (CAM).

Traditional medicine has been used for thousands of years with great contributions made by practitioners to human health, particularly as primary health care providers at the community level. It has maintained its popularity worldwide. Since the 1990s its use has surged in many developed and developing countries.

World Health Organization. Health topics. Internet. Accessed on August 26, 2009.