Ayurveda in Argentina and other Latin American countries

Over the past 20 years the Fundacion Salud de Ayurved Prema Argentina has spread the knowledge of Ayurveda throughout Latin America. The Fundacion is based in Buenos Aires in the Argentine Republic, where it now runs courses in two of the country’s major medical schools - at the School of Medicine of the University of Buenos Aires, and the National University of Cordoba’s School of Medicine. Based on an MoU with Gujarat Ayurveda University, at Jamnagar, Gujarat, the Fundacion has been accredited as a Collaborating Center for teaching, assistance and research in the field of Ayurvedic Medicine in Argentina. This has led to successful missions to other countries in the region where the Fundacion and its associates have been able to start dialogues with governments, and in places hold sizeable courses. The knowledge of Ayurveda is now spreading throughout South and Central America and hardly a country remains untouched by it.


INTRODUCTION
The Fundación de Salud Ayurveda Prema (Prema Ayurveda Health Foundation) is a nonprofit organization registered with the Argentine government. Its goal is to contribute to the promotion of Ayurveda medicine and all its preventive and therapeutic resources of value in the health field. The aim of the Foundation is to help Ayurveda attain the best possible status within Argentina's medical community and with the general public. Our vision is to improve and perfect the health of the peoples of Latin America using Ayurveda.
We have now been spreading Ayurveda in the Argentine Republic and Latin America for over 20 years, focusing our efforts on both the medical profession and the people. Throughout this time, our interest has been to integrate useful elements of traditional approaches to medicine such as Ayurveda, which is our specific field of knowledge, with mainstream medicine and scientific research methods in an atmosphere of mutual respect, acknowledgment, and positive assessment. Currently, we are conducting four postgraduate courses on Ayurvedic medicine, all certified by the most prestigious universities in the country. In the fields of teaching and research, our goal is to preserve the wealth and purity of Ayurveda's teachings, and to demonstrate its usefulness for modern biomedical science.

COLLABORATION WITH GUJARAT AYURVEDA UNIVERSITY
On January 5, 2001, after obtaining approval from India's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ministry of Health, the Fundación de Salud Ayurveda Prema signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Gujarat Ayurveda University (Jamnagar, India) in the presence of Shailaja Chandra (Secretary, Indian System of Medicine and Homeopathy), the Governor of the Gujarat State, and other top Indian officials. The MoU accredited the foundation as a collaborating center for teaching, assistance, and research in the field of Ayurvedic Medicine in Argentina.
In 2000, the School of Medicine of the University of Buenos Aires approved our first postgraduate course on Ayurvedic medicine. [1] Founded in 1821, the University is the most important higher education institution in Argentina. Its 13 schools or departments and 6 affiliated hospitals comprise around 312,000 students and 30,000 professors and lecturers in 108 fields. Among its professors and scholars there have been five Nobel Prize winners. On October 18, 2000 Later, in 2002, an annual advanced postgraduate course on Ayurvedic medicine, accredited by the University's School of Medicine and designed for health professionals, was added. [2] That same year, another resolution [3]  Support of top academics from India's major educational institutions devoted to Ayurvedic studies has made it possible for us to transmit Ayurveda's fundamentals and its most relevant therapeutic tools completely faithfully. It has also enabled us to enrich course content through scientific interchange with well-known institutions at the highest academic level. All this was made possible by the MoU with Gujarat State Ayurveda University.

RECENT INITIATIVES
In April 2010, a new biennial postgraduate course on Ayurvedic medicine exclusively for medical doctors was started at the National University of Cordoba's School of Medicine. [4] The University, founded in 1613, is the oldest in Argentina, and one of the first in the Americas. Its academic structure includes 12 schools, 98 research institutes, 20 libraries, 14 museums, and 2 astronomical observatories. Its faculty comprises 8203 professors and lecturers; 104,218 students are enrolled in its 90 undergraduate courses.
More than 450 professionals, 250 of whom were medical doctors, have now taken our postgraduate courses, while another 500 nonprofessional students have participated in courses on Ayurvedic principles and Ayurvedic massage. Students come from many countries in addition to Argentina, including Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Mexico, Spain, Portugal, Italy, and the USA.
For the last 3 years, we have been participating in an optional Course on Complementary Medicine for students of the School of Medicine at the University of El Salvador, in Buenos Aires. We also run regular courses on Ayurvedic massage for health technicians. These give technicians a more integrated and holistic approach to patient care, and have attracted great interest.
Since 2005, we have also offered online courses on the principles of nutrition in Ayurveda. By implementing several educational strategies that establish a more personal relation with students, and so replacing the direct contact in normal courses, we have achieved a very positive response. This has enabled our students, who come from all Spanishspeaking countries, to share their personal growth and transformation experiences; the latter often extend to their families, making it possible for whole family groups to acquire better health habits.
We have also conducted lectures, seminars, workshops, and conferences on various Ayurveda topics in Ministries of Health, Schools of Medicine, and professional and scientific associations in most Latin American countries: Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil, Paraguay, and Chile, even Spain and India [ Table 1].
For example, in 2002 we coordinated and taught a course at the University of the Americas, Panama. The course, which led to a "Diploma in the Ayurveda Nutrition System,

Berra and Molho: Ayurveda in Latin America
Manual Therapies and Body Aesthetics for Healthier Tourism," was conducted with assistance from the Panama Institute for Tourism. We also conducted training workshops for low-income families on the Ayurvedic use of local medicinal plants. Another example: in 2006 and 2007, we were invited to take charge of Ayurveda training at an Online Course on Complementary Medicine at the School of Medicine, National University of Chile.

WESTERN MEDICINAL PLANTS FOR PANCHAKARMA [TABLES 2-8]
In order to spread Ayurveda most effectively, we took a step we regarded as essential: translation of some of the important, classical Ayurveda texts into Spanish, the second most spoken language in the world. Similarly, we brought out Spanish language publications on distance courses on Ayurvedic medicine, [6][7][8][9] and a book [10] for the general public on the philosophical and practical basis of Ayurveda. The Sociedad Argentina de Pediatría (Argentine Society for Pediatrics) asked us to collaborate with it in its CME Program on Pediatrics, attended by more than 60%         [11] The translation of the six volumes of Charaka Samhita, [12] a task that has taken several years, is in its final revision stage and will soon be published. Translation of Susruta Samhita has already begun. In this way, the Fundación de Salud Ayurveda Prema is making a modest but relevant contribution to correct knowledge of Ayurveda in this region of the world. We have also assembled a collection of the fundamental texts of Ayurveda in English. More than 500 classical and modern Ayurveda texts translated into English have already been indexed.
Some papers resulting from our research work and surveys on different subjects, such as "The International Acceptance of Ayurvedic Formulations," [13] "Physiology of Meditation," [14] "Anorexia Nervosa and Ayurveda," [15] and "Attitudes of Health Professionals Towards Nonconventional Medicine: An Argentinean Survey," [16]  As a result of our postgraduate courses, and seminars conducted in many countries of the Latin American region, and in India, some of our students have been able to establish new Ayurvedic centers in their countries of origin.

AYURVEDA: A TIMELY SOLUTION TO MODERN HEALTHCARE CHALLENGES
Ayurveda offers practical solutions to many problems in modern life. In Argentina, as in other countries in the last few years, [17,18] there has been increasing interest and acceptance of our work everywhere. Among the challenges of the new millennium are treatment of chronic illnesses, and new ways of fostering personal health and well-being. Ayurveda, through its emphasis on the whole person, and its proposal of a reasonable and rational lifestyle giving attention to nutrition, daily routines, exercise, and mental harmony, offers useful resources to professionals wishing to take advantage of its millennia-old wisdom. Besides, its pharmacology based on natural products offers an effective and well-tolerated means to managing certain diseases.
Put to the test in several cultures, Ayurvedic principles have proved useful in both prevention and cure the world around. Our course participants come from many countries, and have subsequently attested to the validity and wisdom of these principles.
The World Health Organization has recognized Ayurveda to be a very sophisticated system of traditional medicine. [19] Ayurveda is a study of life that stimulates observation, and fosters scientific research. Conventional studies have cor roborated many of its ancient postulates. [20] Currently, the interest of both physicians and patients is increasing in traditional systems of medicine. [21,22] All of them need to count on knowledgeable professionals, well-trained in new kinds of care, and able to provide answers to humanity's modern health problems. Demand for training and information is high.
What the new millennium specifically requires is integrated training of health professionals to fulfill increasing demands in the West. Health professional teams, patients, and the general public are all experiencing a deep need for a system that integrates body, mind, and spirit. Our time demands a personalized approach to prevention, and effective, natural methods of treatment, with low levels of side effects or adverse responses.
In the world's most prominent universities, there is currently a trend to include courses on complementary and alternative medicine. A 1998 survey of American schools of medicine found that, of the 117 which answered the questionnaire out of 125 surveyed, a total of 123 courses were taught at 64% of the university medical schools. [23] It has always been held that universities are the proper place for evolution of thinking as they offer an environment of freedom for discussion of ideas, and encouraging the advancement of science. Our postgraduate courses have been approved since they offer a framework for mutual respect and tolerance for different ways of viewing health and treating illness. As narrated above, these considerations have led to our courses being recognized by Argentina's best traditional learning institutions such as the University of Buenos Source of Support: Nil, Conflict of Interest: None declared.

Berra and Molho: Ayurveda in Latin America
Aires and the National University of Cordoba.
The World Health Organization has urged that interchanges between traditional and modern medicine be promoted. [24] To achieve this goal, members of health teams need tested information sources and methods. Without compromising professional responsibility or scientific principles, some collaborative projects have begun to take form. This joint work will make it possible to distinguish therapies useful for patient care from others. In addition, it will require developing special abilities, valuing sources of knowledge focused on ways to maintain and preserve health.
Of all systems of traditional medicine, Ayurveda seems to be best understood by people in Latin America and the West, and thus most up-to-date. Experience confirms that its ancient wisdom is easily accepted and incorporated both by professionals, health workers, and the general public. We find increasing numbers of people and institutions turning to its concepts and resources to care for individuals and families, and to heal disease. Participants in our courses tell us that Ayurveda's holistic and scientific approach improves and deepens the practical work of physicians, psychologists, nutritionists, physiotherapists, kinesiologists, nurses, yoga teachers, nutrition counselors, manual therapists, and other health professionals and technicians.
Fundación de Salud Ayurveda Prema is open to possible forms of collaboration with other Ayurvedic institutions: (a) in order to organize training visits for its members to Ayurvedic centers in India, and visits of foreign Ayurvedic professors to Argentina; (b) to carry out scientific research projects to demonstrate to the biomedical community the value and usefulness of Ayurvedic resources and remedies; and (c) to support work on the provision of Ayurvedic texts in Spanish.
Ayurveda has shown its potential to solve some of our age's greatest health problems. We are glad to be a part of this movement. Those trained in this ancient Science of Life will be at the forefront of a highly positive and enriching trend in the field of health.