The World Health Organization concluded on Friday its first Traditional Medicine Summit in India, which generated staunch criticism from the medical community.

The goal of the two-day affair, held in coordination with the Indian government and the G-20 health summit being held concurrently, is to bring scientific scrutiny to the efficacy of traditional medicine practices, ranging from osteopathic medicine to yoga and meditation.

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A post on the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, from Aug. 10 received a community notes warning deriding the WHO's promotion of homeopathy, osteopathy, and naturopathy.

"Homeopathy, osteopathy & naturopathy are not traditional medicine, but should be described as pseudoscience as they were invented in countries/times where/when modern science was already developed. Also, the contemporary used form of acupuncture has modern roots," said the note, with a list of several Wikipedia entries for context.

Other experts skeptical of traditional medicine have weighed in, questioning the value of the WHO's emphasis on the subject.

Edward Ernst, a German-British medical professor who has written several books on what he terms "so-called alternative medicine," or SCAM, has been highly critical of the WHO's emphasis on traditional and complementary medicine.

"The WHO has a long history of uncritically promoting alternative therapies," wrote Ernst on his individual blog. "The Indian government has recently advocated irresponsibly dangerous nonsense, such as the use of homeopathy for the prevention and treatment of COVID infections. The two together make an ominous initiative when it comes to alternative medicine."

Ernst told the Washington Examiner that the WHO's touting of traditional medicine as long-established in indigenous cultures is intentionally misleading.

"[Traditional medicine] might be well established but that it contributes to health and well-being is a medical claim that is not supported by sound evidence. For many of the therapies in question, the evidence is negative; some are outright dangerous," Ernst said. "To me, this is ill-informed, biased, and counter-productive. In the realm of [traditional medicine], the WHO is driven by political interests and not by science to the detriment of patients worldwide."

Ernst is also highly critical of the fact that only proponents of traditional medicine were invited to speak at the WHO summit.

"Progress is not created by voicing one-sided, biased opinions," Ernst said.

Proponents of the WHO's efforts, however, assert the need for scientific scrutiny of traditional medicine and not substituting traditional medicine for modern treatments for serious diseases or conditions.

Susan Wieland, director of Cochrane Complementary Medicine, described this balance using the example of aggressive cancer.

"You might want to do yoga or improve your nutrition or practice relaxation or meditation, but you don't want to do those activities instead of seeing a physician who has expertise in the modern treatment of cancer," Wieland said. "You need to think about integrating these traditional practices together with modern medicine."

U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra is currently in India participating in the G-20 health summit to discuss healthcare supply chain issues and geopolitical coordination on global health challenges.

"Our partnership with India is one of our nation's most consequential relationships, bringing health benefits to the region & world," Becerra wrote on X.

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Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is a strong proponent of yoga as a "way of life" and was an advocate of the WHO declaration of World Yoga Day.

In an interview with the Hindustan Times, Becerra did not reference the WHO Traditional Medicine Summit but discussed strengthening the strategic partnership with India on health matters.