Homeopathy Can't Cure Africa's Ills

The medical establishment has long had a firm stance against homeopathy, but British researchers are taking it a step further. They have appealed to the World Health Organization (WHO) to officially condemn homeopathy as a legitimate treatment option for HIV, malaria, TB, and other serious maladies common to the Third World.

The British researchers are largely working in these developing countries, and have claimed that homeopathic medicine men prey on the desperate and vulnerable. They claim that these homeopaths tell parents of children with illnesses that are simple enough to treat with traditional medicine (such as diarrhea or influenza) that the medication offered by doctors will not cure the malady, and that they should turn to homeopathy in order for their child to be cured. Since the illnesses have not been shown to respond to the homeopathic rememdies, the British researchers claim the homeopaths are tantamount to snake oil salesmen, leading desperate parents and suffering patients down the garden path while the diseases progress unchecked.

Sub-Saharan Africa's HIV epidemic has become famous of late, with the WHO estimating over 33 million cases in 2007 alone. The epidemic has complicated the tuberculosis cases already rampant in the region, with HIV leading to a dramatic increase in deaths from TB. In addition, 247 million cases of malaria were recorded by the WHO in 2006. Raymond Tallis, emeritus professor of geriatric medicine at Manchester University, said: "The catastrophic consequences of promoting irrational and ineffective treatments for serious illnesses have been demonstrated in South Africa, where Thabo Mbeki's policies have led to an estimated 365,000 unnecessary premature deaths. The prospect of replicating this reckless behaviour elsewhere in developing countries by advocating homeopathic treatments for AIDs and other potentially lethal conditions is appalling."

It should be noted that the homeopathic remedies being claimed as dangerous and deplorable are not the sort sold at the average health food stores. The homeopathic medicines being sold in Sub-Saharan Africa are made by obtaining a small amount of the traditional medicine, then diluting it with water until none of the original compound remains. The resultant homeopathic "medicine" is, therefore, nothing more than a placebo, and bears no resemblance even to the most basic multivitamin.

In contrast, the efficacy of traditional medication in treating the majority of the diseases found in the region has been proven. The problem has traditionally been getting the medicine to the region, and in making it affordable. As a result, finding a readily available, and inexpensive, option to treat the tragically common diseases is an attractive one. The British researchers are hoping that an official statement decrying these options as nothing more than placebos, however, will dissuade the vulnerable populous from investing what little money they have in something useless.

"British scientists ask WHO to condemn homeopathy for diseases such as HIV"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2009/jun/01/world-health-organisation-homeopathy-hiv

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