Women’s Health & Asian Traditional Medicine (WHAT Medicine) is pleased to invite the participation from all those interested in this topic from within Asia and internationally. Under the umbrella theme: Enhancing Medicinal Plants with Biotechnology and conference theme: Integrative Approaches for Quality Improvement and Utilization of Medicinal Plants. The conference will bring into focus those Asian healthcare traditions used by generations of women to care for their families and their own health needs and will begin a process of ensuring that the best of these traditions are preserved, promoted, evaluated and used as culturally appropriate strategies for meeting women’s healthcare needs in contemporary society.

The conference will begin with an opening ceremony on the morning of the 28th July 2006 at the Dewan Tun Hussein Onn, Putra World Trade Centre with the full programme commencing immediately after the opening ceremony and closing on the evening of 30th July 2006.

Senduduk

The botanical name is Melastoma malabricum. It has been used as a uterine tonic for hundreds of years in South East Asia. It grows wildly in hill slopes and has a pretty lilac flower.

Pegaga

The botanical name is Centella asiatica. An important herb known all over Asia. The Latin name translates as "Star of Asia". In Asian traditional medicine, it is used as skin repair agent and a memory enhancer and brain tonic. The Green leafs of C. Asiatic resemble half of a human brain. In Malaysia, women prepare it as an ulam - a delicious herbal salad - for the family's health.

The colours of herb, namely lilac and green are also the international colours of women's movement.

The predominant colours of these two herbs - lilac and green - are also the colours of women's international movement.