“Traditional Chinese medicine is a ‘gem’ of the country’s scientific heritage.”
—President of China Xi Jinping
Since its founding in 1948, maintenance of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) report is among the many tasks allocated to the World Health Organization (WHO). The ICD was initially started by the U.S. International Statistical Institute as the International List of Causes of Death. More than 100 countries worldwide use the ICD currently for morbidity and mortality statistics. But the ICD also serves an important financial role: the ICD is being used as a basis for reimbursement policies and allocation of national funding for almost 70 percent of global healthcare costs.