Terms of Reference

The key tasks for the Committee are:

(a) to provide information and advice to the Minister on complementary and alternative healthcare

(b) to provide advice on how complementary and alternative healthcare can improve outcomes in the priority areas signalled in the New Zealand Health Strategy

(c) to provide advice on the need, or otherwise, to regulate complementary and alternative healthcare practitioners in order to protect consumers who use complementary and alternative healthcare

(d) to provide advice on consumer information needs and, in particular, advice on the benefits, risks and costs of complementary and alternative therapies

(e) to review overseas evidence-based research, identify priorities for the development of New Zealand evidence-based research on the safety and efficacy of specific complementary and alternative therapies and support the development of guidelines

(f) to provide advice on whether, and how, specified complementary and alternative health practitioners should be integrated into the mainstream system.