WHO working paper maps how cupping therapy training is organised worldwide

25 October 2026

The World Health Organization has published a 30-page working paper titled Cupping therapy: descriptive synthesis of training.
It gives an evidence-informed overview of how cupping therapy training is reported and organised across settings within traditional, complementary and integrative medicine.
The paper draws mainly on a systematic scoping review and describes training pathways and curriculum content, competency domains and learning outcomes, approaches to delivery and assessment, trainer qualifications and training facilities, and accreditation arrangements.
Its analysis focuses mainly on cupping based on traditional Chinese medicine while acknowledging the wider diversity of cupping practices across medical systems.
The authors describe it as a descriptive and non-normative reference meant to inform policy-makers, regulators, educators, accreditors, health professionals, researchers and practitioners.
It was prepared by the Global Traditional Medicine Centre, part of the WHO Global Centre for Traditional Medicine.