EFCAM unites European Federations for specific Complementary and Alternative Medicine (CAM) modalities and national multi-modality CAM Associations.
EFCAM’s principal objectives are to gain:
– equality of access for citizens to CAM across Europe
– the right of all appropriately trained providers of CAM to practice.
- CAM is increasingly used by citizens across Europe as a means of maintaining their health and for treating ill-health. There is an increasing awareness that a holistic approach to healthcare is needed, based on the understanding that a human being is a complex integrated unit of mind, body and spirit, closely interconnected with their physical and social environment.
- Between 20% and 80% of citizens in different EU countries have used CAM in their health care. They want to choose the therapeutic approach that they consider will produce the best result for their health, whether it is to maintain good health and to prevent illness, or to alleviate a health problem, and whether that includes conventional medicine or CAM.
- Access to CAM, with a few exceptions, is limited to those who can afford to pay for it. Equitable access to healthcare, including CAM, and the sustainability of health services requires a shift towards health promotion and the prevention of illness, and towards more cost-effective treatment of illness. CAM methods and CAM professionals are available to make their contribution.
- Europe faces a growing number of challenges in the area of healthcare such as an aging population, chronic disease, maintaining a healthy workforce, rising healthcare costs etc. It is time for CAM to be given serious consideration as both an innovation and as added value for healthcare in Europe.