The TCM-Social Forum provides a unique platform for different projects around the world, conducting relief work in which Chinese Medicine plays an essential role . The idea of creating a platform for equivalent projects was initiated in recognizing the needs of effective communication between the projects and the lack of their visibility. In the meantime our platform provides a fertile ground for
exchange of ideas and experiences. We recruit and refer volunteers from different countries to our projects, we offer our help wherever it is needed and required. We initiate new projects, help with material donations and organize more and more public and fundraising events. There are already many projects of this kind that we have taken into our program after careful examination , according to our principles. For any project to be supported by the Forum it must satisfy certain ethical and moral criteria: projects must have objectives which are non-profitable, and they must respect both local culture in which it operates and the individual dignity of the local population. Our experiences show a large effective benefit to the medical situation in developing countries and the need for more such initiatives so that local projects were initiated. We currently are providing support for charitable projects in India, Nepal, Thailand, Laos, Jordan, various African countries and also closer to home welfare clinics in Germany. A great deal of publicity we get every year on the TCM Congress in Rothenburg o.d.Tauber. Here we present selected projects from our platform, organize an exchange forum and create a dense network of direct activists, external supporters and of the TCM community in general. The requisite autonomy of medical provision can be difficult to achieve in developing countries because of the endemic shortage of medicines. Here, the Chinese medicine can build a bridge, because it can offer help under difficult conditions with minimal cost and can be integrated in any existing medical system, whether traditional or modern. People living in poverty and financial misery often cannot afford even basic primary health care. In such situations, acupuncture can prove to be a particularly appropriate method of treatment. It is both inexpensive and effective. It offers considerable advantages when compared with expensive western drugs which are so often unavailable, particularly in instances of non-existent medical infrastructures with a lack of basic diagnostic facilities such as laboratories and radiological facilities etc. In only a short time simple basic acupuncture techniques for specific related disease or even a foundation of acupuncure over a long periode of time can be taught to local nurses, doctors, midwives or other therapists. This will achieve a certain independence from the outside world, which should give the projects the ability to continue to function even without our help. Subsequently patients and nursing staff may be trained in Qi Gong, offering them the possibility of greater independence from other medical healthcare, and more control over their own health. For this purpose we work together with a Qi Gong Institute in Berlin. To put our work on sturdy legs, we cooperate with local and international NGOs, official ministeries, local communities and various acupuncture organisations.
