123, HOMOEOPATHY!

BBCi Removes All References To Complementary Therapies

2008-02-15T22:47:00.003Z

You may not be aware that last week the controllers of BBCHealth (www.bbc.co.uk/health) , the health section on one of the most accessed websites in the world, decided to remove all coverage of complementary medicine!

They used to have substantial coverage with over 40 pages on this subject covering all the major therapies, their pros and cons, evidence for their effectiveness, how to find a qualified practitioner, etc.

However the site has in recent months been targeted by the self-appointed 'Quackbusters', (scientists and medics vehemently opposed to complementary therapies such as Prof David Colquhon et al) who sent a deluge of letters and emails claiming that complementary therapies such as homeopathy and cranial osteopathy were 'unscientific' and should be removed. As a result large chunks of this part of the site were simply removed overnight and now, following recent cutbacks, it was decided that, rather than update this part of the site, it should simply be removed altogether!

It may seem incredible that a public service site this prominent can deem complementary medicine so insignificant that it no longer warrants any coverage other than the odd news story. This is despite the fact that complementary medicine is used favourably by a significant proportion of the population (recent surveys have estimated that around 1 in 5 Britons use it at some point or other) and that increasing numbers of people are now seeking to train in these therapies.

However, as the 'quack busters' become more organised and active, evidence of the backlash against complementary medicine is appearing all over the place - such as the removal of NHS Trust funding for homeopathy, the threatened closure of the homeopathic hospitals, many negative news stories in the press and so on. Rather than taking a reasoned view and considering the evidence from good research studies on complementary medicine these individuals seem simply hell bent on trying to 'stamp out' complementary medicine in any way possible. The BBCi removal of complementary medicine coverage (which has been in place for almost 15 years!) is one example.

If you care about complementary medicine and believe information pages on it should be returned to BBCi, please, please take just a minute to express your views using their online comment form at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/feedback/

to make your view known. As a public service company they have to listen to your views so your email will make a difference. Apparently for all the many letters and emails that they received that were against complementary medicine they only received a handful in support. Therefore if you are in support please let them know so they may revise their thinking on this subject.

Please act as soon as possible and pass on these details to anyone else you know who may also be willing to write in support of complementary medicine.

If you have found homoeopathy beneficial you can support a campaign to promote homoeopathy by visiting http://www.homeopathyworkedforme.org/ .

Thank you!

Martin Miles Obituary

2008-02-07T23:32:00.000Z

Martin Miles, homoeopath and the founder of The Society Of Homeopaths died recently. You can read his book of condolences at this address.

http://www.homeopathy-soh.org/about-the-society-/founder.aspx

Martin Miles FSHom 29/08/1947 – 27/09/2007

Martin Miles taught that homeopathy can create shining spirits. He was a man of modesty, a man who helped countless people with severe pathology, a man who inspired a love of homeopathy, a man with many friends and no enemies.

He started in practice in 1976, and with others in 1978 set up the College of Homeopathy and the Society of Homeopaths of which he was the first chair. Martin was a quiet yet humorous man - deep thinking, generous, a little mysterious, almost as if steeped in another time. It seems as if this was born out of his extraordinary introduction to homoeopathy through Thomas Maughan who regarded Martin as his amanuensis. Thomas had more or less saved his life by giving him not just remedial treatment but also a discipline and a focus. Their relationship was very much one of master and apprentice and this is how Martin saw homoeopathy being carried forward into the future. He always adhered to the belief that homeopathy should not only be taught, but had to be absorbed through witnessing others at work.

Martin originated from the East End of London where his father had been a travel agent, which was Martin’s occupation when he became involved in homeopathy. Maughan had studied homeopathy probably in the tradition of Clarke, Burnett, Cooper, and later Wheeler and Kenyon. Maughan taught a homeopathy class in South East London which Martin attended, and which Martin then taught for many years after Maughan’s death.

Martin took his Jewish roots very seriously, yet he was remarkably eclectic in his choice of philosophies to plunder for inspiration. He was fascinated by and very knowledgeable about ancient Egypt. He was one of the first to strongly advocate understanding of the chakras as a means to forming a prescribing strategy. His idiosyncratic methodology was, despite apparent complexity, remarkably simple: always support the patient where he is weakest or most vulnerable even while prescribing the indicated remedy. Thus and by dint of his great knowledge of remedy relationships, he developed multi-aspect prescriptions by which his patients received what Martin always regarded as the minimum: the indicated remedy, chakra support and drainage. He is also to be credited with consistently preaching and practising the frequent prescribing of the nosodes to support constitutional treatment, a legacy of Maughan’s.

In the early 1990s, he formed the Guild of Homeopaths with Janice Micaleff and Colin Griffiths. For a period of ten years, from 1992, the Guild engaged in a systematic programme of provings of new remedies directed toward supporting existing remedies, the endocrine system, and subtle anatomy. Martin was a leader of the Guild graduate course.

To have known Martin as a friend was good, but to have known him as a homeopathic colleague was special. His working life was unique; he turned the work of prescribing homeopathically into an art. He so obviously found homeopathy creative and fulfilling. How he practised homeopathy was unlike anybody else, and those of us who have learnt from him and think of ourselves as erstwhile apprentices, are aware of his achievement of stretching the boundaries of homeopathy a little further in order to cater for all the vastly increased ills that we are asked to consider nowadays. He was fearless in the clinic, unbridled in his contempt for the worst excesses of conventional science, prepared to take responsibility for prescribing in any situation. Yet he always insisted that the great prescribers of the past should be revered as truth-seekers: Hahnemann, Hering, Compton-Burnett, Cooper, Clarke and others, not least Thomas Maughan.
He continued in his thriving practice in the Blackheath and Bexley areas of south east London and teaching in the UK and overseas right until he became ill. He had been married twice and is survived by his three children, Alistair, James and Sarah.

Publications:
1994 Homeopathy and Human Evolution Winter Press.
1998 Interview with Martin Miles, The American Homeopath

This obituary was composed by Francis Treuherz FSHom with the help of Colin Griffiths RSHom and Jerome Whitney.

Websites Supporting Homoeopathy / वेबसाइट्स सुप्पोर्तिंग होमेओप्ति

2008-02-07T23:28:00.000Z

After you've had a look at H:MC21 website you can look at these others which also support homoeopathy.

http://woowooscienc e.com/

http://freetochoose health.wordpress .com/

http://laughingmyso cksoff.wordpress .com/

Has Homoeopathy Worked For You? / हस होमोएओपथ्य् वोर्केद फॉर यू ?

2008-02-07T23:10:00.000Z

Has homoeopathy worked for you?

Maybe you're familiar with the controversial research article in Lancet that found homoeopathy to have no effect in clinical trials. Whether the article was biased or not, there's enough people (and animals) in the world who have benefitted from homoeopathic treatment. If you are one of them you can add your voice to a campaign which promotes homoeopathy at the H:MC21 website.

Please note that H:MC21 is a non-profit-making organisation in the process of applying for charity status.

H:MC21 – Homeopathy: Medicine of the 21st Century
For details see www.hmc21.org

With as little as £5 you can help us make the
‘Homeopathy worked for me’ campaign successful

Dear Colleagues and Friends

Thank you for signing our declaration, and for your interest in our work. At the time of writing this message – and after five weeks of mainly word-of-mouth campaigning - we have already collected over 3,500 signatures.

But we need over 1,000 a day in order achieve our target of 250,000. We have some exciting projects planned to do this, but at the moment we have no money to fund them.

So, we are now turning to you all to donate whatever you can afford. This is our all chance to make history and put homeopathy back on the medical map where it truly belongs.

Please donate whatever you can: £5, £10, £100 or even more.

We do not yet have an online donation facility, but are working on it. In the meantime, please send cheques, made payable to H:MC21, to

The Treasurer
H:MC21
The Old Farmhouse
37 Filgrave, Bucks MK16 9ET

Or make a bank transfer to

H:MC21
at Abbey, Account No. 43159698, Sort Code 09-06-66

बेन गोल्दाक्रे, बुस्तेद ! / Ben Goldacre, Busted !

2008-02-07T23:02:00.000Z

In a November posting you can read part of a response by Jeanette Winterson to an article in The Guardian by Ben Goldacre. Niow you can find out a little more about who Ben Goldacre is and who he works for.

AGANST DR BEN GOLDACRE

Cultural Dwarfs and Junk Journalism is Martin Walker’s fourth book charting the development of the corporate science lobby that has grown rapidly since New Labour came to power in 1997. One of the most recent exponents of the Lobby is Dr Ben Goldacre who has regurgitated a bad ‘Science’ column in the Guardian newspaper since 2003. Like other quackbusters Goldacre claims to write factually based and scientifically accurate articles about health, medicine and science either supporting scientists and doctors or criticising individuals involved in alternative or nutritional health care. Goldacre’s writing, however, actually reflects the ideology of powerful industrial, technological and political vested interests.Goldacre who it is claimed is a Junior doctor working in a London NHS hospital is actually a clinical researcher working at the centre of New Labour’s Orwellian spin operation that puts a sympathetic gloss on anything shown to create adverse reactions from MMR to Wi-Fi, while at the same time undermining cost-effective and long tried alternative therapies such as acupuncture and homoeopathy.

Goldacre is involved with public health researchers well known for trying to prove that those who claim to be adversely affected by pollutants in our modern high-technology society, suffer from ‘false illness beliefs’.Cultural Dwarfs and Junk Journalism, investigates Goldacre’s role in industry lobby groups and puts another point of view in defense of some of the people whom he has attacked, belittled, satirized, castigated, vilified, maligned and opined against in his junk journalism.

* * *Cultural Dwarfs and Junk Journalism: Ben Goldacre, quackbusters and corporate science, is available from the Slingshot Publications web site as a free download, from mid-day on Wednesday January 2nd. To be effective as a campaigning document, it is important that this book is distributed far and wide as quickly as possible. Please forward this publication information together with the Slingshot Publications web site address. Another thing that will help with the book’s distribution is the writing of even very short reviews for different web sites, this helps get the book onto Google listings.

This book is free and can be downloaded from the Slingshot Publications site: www.slingshotpublications.com. Please distribute it as widely as possible and if you think that the work is worth it, consider making a small donation. Also on the Slingshot site, is Martin Walker’s last book, The Fate of a Good Man. The book tells the story of Jim Wright, the investigation into him, his prosecution and trial by the Big Pharma regulatory agency, the MHRA. A good read at £5.00

Childhood Immunisations

2008-02-07T21:20:00.000Z

Threatened support group needs more help / थ्रेअतेनेद सुप्पोर्ट ग्रुप नीड्स मोरे हेल्प

As homeopathic practitioners you are very likely to be asked on numerous occasions about your views on the subject of vaccination. I know some of you do encourage your patients to contact the Informed Parent, which is greatly appreciated, but after fifteen years of existence we are in danger of folding due to a lack of subscribers. So I’m appealing for support to help boost numbers which will not only keep the Informed Parent flourishing but also create an opportunity to widen its services.

It all began back in 1988. As a first time mum, it didn't even cross my mind to look into the issue of vaccination. Instead I diligently reported to my surgery with my new baby daughter for all of the vaccinations that were due. I don't think any parent likes to take their baby to be vaccinated because there is an instinctive feeling that you are betraying your baby's trust by handing them over to a stranger, who then proceeds to stick a needle into their thigh, unexpectedly - and most babies do cry at that moment! However it seems reasonable 'that a few moments of pain will mean a lifetime of protection.

It wasn't until my second daughter was coming up to 12 months old that I started to investigate this subject, which was triggered by a two-page article featured in the September 1991 issue of the London Evening Standard magazine entitled: Vaccination-The Hidden Facts. After reading it I began to wade through a great deal of literature, attend lectures, discuss the subject with various medical and scientific researchers and other concerned and well-informed parents. This led me to being one of the founder members of The Informed Parent which was initially set up in September 1992. The other three founder members, Janet Smith, Kim Harrington and Melany Still, were all mothers who had researched the subject prior to giving birth and all had chosen not to have their babies vaccinated. Our main aim was to encourage the public to inform and educate themselves on the vaccination issue before making their decision. However, by late 1994, the other founder members were unable to offer further involvement due to their family commitments and so I found myself in the position of either going it alone or 'shutting up shop' on the project!

Well, I decided that I had to continue spreading the word, as my passion for the subject was strong and I would have found it very difficult to walk away from it. During the 1990s, the Informed Parent had some publicity through the media and a few opportunities to be involved in TV and radio coverage, but in recent years it has become very rare indeed. Political correctness seems to have eradicated almost all debate or challenge on the subject leading to a growing number of parents completely unaware of any alternative avenues to investigate. Also, I believe that the vast amount of information now available on the internet has also had an impact on the falling

I am presently looking at ways to not only help save the Informed Parent but to expand and develop what is offered.

I would welcome any feedback or suggestions that may improve the service offered. The annual subscription is only £15 which entitles you to three newsletters; a 12-page resource pamphlet listing book titles, websites and useful contacts relating to vaccination; and other useful information leaflets. Homeopaths subscribing up until the end of February 2008 will be sent two extra back issues in the first mail out.

The established view on vaccination is very well protected, and it is hailed as one of modern orthodox medicine's greatest achievements. And yet there is much research which casts doubt on some of the claims made and I strongly believe parents should be made aware of this before making a decision on whether to vaccinate their children. It is about information and choice.

To subscribe please send your contact details along with payment to: The Informed Parent (Hom Special Offer), P O Box 4481 , Worthing, West Sussex , BN11 2WH. Or for more information phone 01903 212969 or check out the website at: www.informedparent.co.uk

IN DEFENCE OF HOMEOPATHY

2007-11-14T21:45:00.000Z

This article was written by Jeanette Winterson and published in the Guardian. I read the article to which she refers when it was brought to my attention at the case study group I attend. Here I've taken the liberty of cutting and pasting some of Jeanette Winterson's response. You can read the rest by following the link at the end . . .

In defence of homeopathyJeanette WintersonTuesday November 13, 2007The Guardian

Picture this. I am staying in a remote cottage in Cornwall without a car. I have a temperature of 102, spots on my throat, delirium, and a book to finish writing. My desperate publisher suggests I call Hilary Fairclough, a homeopath who has practices in London and Penzance. She sends round a remedy called Lachesis, made from snake venom. Four hours later I have no symptoms whatsoever.

Dramatic stuff, and enough to convince me that while it might use snake venom, homeopathy is no snake oil designed for gullible hypochrondriacs. Right now, though, a fierce debate is raging between those, like me, who trust homeopathy because it works for them, and those who call it shamanistic claptrap, without clinical proof or any scientific base.

There have been a number of articles in the press recently criticising homeopathic remedies as worthless at best, and potentially lethal at worst, if they are being taken instead of tried-and-tested conventional medicines for conditions such as malaria or HIV.
I have found myself cited, and drawn into this, because I am on record as supporting homeopathic practice in general, and in particular the Maun homeopathy project, a clinic in Botswana set up by Fairclough.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/g2/story/0,,2209998,00.html

Follow the link to the full article.

ROWLAND AT HOME

2007-11-14T21:41:00.000Z

Hello again. It's been a long time since I last wrote. I've since returned from Botswana and returned to practice in London. I'll tell you about what adventures I have here in the coming months and my reflections on Botswana.

Journey To Ubuntu, The Spirit Of The Ancestors

2007-08-26T19:38:00.000Z

Gentle readers, this may be my last written from Botswana as I am due to leave next Sunday to resume my practice in London. I’m sad to be leaving as I am just beginning to get to know this little part of this great country and excited at the same time as I ‘ll be travelling back down to Johannesburg by bus and so have time to see some more new things on my way home.

We’ve had another wonderful weekend as we traveled south west, past Sehitwa down to D’Quae Q’Are to the Kuru San dance festival. Once again we took to the road with the remarkable Marty who pointed out to us the Thamalakawe fault along which our river runs and the ancient shores and sand-bars of paeleo Lake Ngami.

We saw some very fascinating things concerning ubuntu, the heritage of the ancestors, the ancient and contemporary landscape and Botswana’s delicate relationship with water. As we left Maun and and passed the Hereo village Marty began to describe the intricacies of Ngamiland’s subteranean waters. Lake Ngami has been dry for about 160 years. Sehitwa is situated on it’s shores and on the map appears next to a large expanse of blue. However, in reality the best you could expect to see was a few muddy pools. The most striking evidence of the absence of this water is the dead Lead wood and acacia trees. These trees are incredibly slow growing and those of any reasonable size are likely to be around 150 years old. Along the road as we passed out of Maun we could see a great many of these trees recently dead indicating that there is gradually less and less water flowing underground.

Further on we came to a great Baobab tree. Again, in this desert region these trees are incredibly slow growing and the one we saw could be up to 2000 years old. It’s smooth bark felt like stone and in it’s branches were growing it’s furry fruit. Marty pointed out to us a square outline on it’s trunk. This scar showed where people had stripped the bark in order to make cloth at least 300 years ago. This remonds me of the artefact we found when we gathered wood on the way back from seeing the waters of the Boteti flow again.

So, there we are, just off the old Samedupi road colllecting firewood when we come across a bleached white piece of timber, deeply weathered, about 1.5 meters long with grooves about it’s circumfirence. So we brought it back with us to figure out what it might be. Batsamai had the answer. It was a tool in the tanning and leatherworking trade and would have been suspended from a tree by ropes running around the grooves. Now, this piece of wood was leadwood, which used to be used for cart axles because of it’s durability. This piece was bleached white and deeply grooved along it’s grain so that although it had been worked it looked like an outer covering of leadwood bark. Forr the wood to have aged so much it must have been at least 200 years old. A piece of wood with so many stories to tell because it would have heard the ancerstors talking as they worked and then lay and watched as the cattle drivers passed with their herds, as woodgatherers passed and seen the old Samedupi road being built.

So, on we went and saw to our delight a much younger baobab growing beside the road and acacia’s beginning to put out yellow blossoms here and there. I got my first sight of real live wild ostriches. A pair of females were pecking beside the road apparently oblivious to passing cars.

On and on and up and over the edge of the Thamalakawe fault, through the vet fence at Kuke where we were in two minds whether or not to head off to the central Kalahari game reserve as it was relatively nearby but we’d set our hearts on going to the festival so on we went. Along a long gently curving road bounded by acacias and leadwoods. No Mophane trees though. There’s a Mophane line just southwest of Maun beyond which no Mophane grow.

We found D’Quae Q’Are and were searched at the gate for alcohol. During the festival no alcohol is allowed on site as it pollures the vibe for anyone likely to go into a trance while they dance. Smoking is forbidden at the dancing arena for this reason too.
We drove along a straight but bumpy track through the game reserve where the event was being held. We were passed by Ian Khama, the Vice President’s entourage going in the opposite direction and a bus full of schoolchildren who shouted ‘I love you’ and made Marty’s day as we passed each other.

I’d love to be able to describe the dances to you in great detail but it has been a long day. One of the most striking things about the dance groups is the role of the men and women. The women clap and sing and go out and dance in two’s and threes. They are accompanied by up to three men. One carrying a stick, one a fly whisk and one both stick and flywhisk. They provide a contrapuncta lrythmn of their own by stamping their feet in and shaking the belts of seeds which are wound round their legs. Men dance differently from women too, they are generally bent at the waist with their shoulders hunched and their elbows out looking awkward but dancing gracefully. For the women there’s more freedom of movement, they look more relaxed without their shoulders hunched.The other thing which struck me was the range of ages and costumes. One group were particularly striking as there were dressed in contamporary clothes. They struck me because it brought home to me the reality of the San people’s lives. Their no longer the pure, simple bushman characterized in ‘The Gods Must Be Crazy’ but fully paid up members of the twentieth centuary albiet with a unique culture and heritage.
Suffice to say, everyone was enjoying themselves.It was a place for people from all over to meet up and rekindle aquaintances and catch up on gossip, buy tasty food, look at something and generally hang out in a festive atmosphere. Hey, I saw my fisrt Hartebeest there too. They were having a party too with a couple of Zebra and a wildebeest. Hartebeest look like elegant wildebeest. Where wildebeest are grey and shaggy hartebeest are golden and clean lined and the males have impressive slowly spiraling and curved horns. They have a similarly long face to the wildebeest and theirs is accentuated by a black line running down the middle of their faces from forehead to nose making them appear like masked animals.

I’ll put up some pictures from this trip and scenes from Maun and our trip top Boteti in the coming days. We’ve actually been pretty busy in the last couple of weeks and I’ve just been enjoying the opportunity to relax after work,. So sorry for the absence of pictures recently. Things aren’t going to slow down either. We’ll be in Shorobe on Wednesday and Friday next week to attend a convention of all the local HIV support groups., That’s going to be very interesting and a lot of fun too though I guess I will have left Botswana by the time I have time to tell you guys about it. Until then, take it easy.

Exploring With Marty: The Return Of The River

2007-08-17T13:12:00.001Z

Today we went for a trip into the bush with Marty. We were keeping her company while she looked for holes in the cattle fence lining the Maun-Francistown road. This is one of those things that was put up by Central govern,ment with the best intentions but does not really work in practice.

Here’s the reasons why. The fence is sparsely gated and a gate only works when it is closed. Most of the gate-posts we passed were ungated as gates are very useful to people elsewhere. Those gates we did see were either left open or mangled beyond repair. Long stretches of the fence were non existent for one reason or another. In many places the fence had been trampled down by either people or animals and ceased to serve it’s purpose.

Why is this such a problem? The fence is there to stop cattle and other livestock getting onto the road and being squashed. When there’s no fence the cattle get out and graze along the sides of the road as there is very good grasss there. So Marty’s involved with getting the fence repaired etc. We drove out of Maun at half eight this morning and traveled along the road playing a sort of Eye-Spy car game for sections of fence which was non existent, bent and climbable, gated and closed, gated but with no gate, gated with an open gate and gated with a mangled gate. We did pretty well.

This journey brought us to the turning for Samedupi so we went down there to see whether any water had reached the bridge. We were travelling through fully rural Africa . We’d left the builders merchants, car spares shops, garages, take-away’s and liquor rests way behind us on the outskirts of Maun.

The way was lined with species of acacia, sage brush, mophane and mogotho trees. Every now and then we’d see compounds with one or two ntlo or rondavel houses, a big tree for shade and people going about their business. We’d pass donkey carts laden with containers for water and usually a couple of boys or an old man at the controls.

At Samedupi we got the first happy surprise of the day. Water had begun to flow in the Boteti river, a thing not seen for at least 20 years. It has been left in standing pools near Makalamabedi higher up the river in years prdeviously but had never flowed as far as Samedupi in about 20 years.

At the bridge it was coursing along like a mill-race and Marty pointed out that it was deep because the silcrete outcrops were submerged! Silcrete appears to be a little understoodmineral which forms somehow along rivers. It appears in stratified or nodular outcrops depending on how it was formed and can look like tree branches, trunks or rootrs which have become fossilised. The bits I saw reminded me a lot of the type of flint nodes which we found on Har Karkom when I was working with Professor Emanuel Anati’s yearly expedition there to catalogue the rock art. After all the Negev had once been a sea, and then had lakes and rivers. Thinking along those lines I asked Marty if she’d ever come across anything like the bulbusim you can find in the Negev and she had but much smaller and had at first mistaken hem for bolas stones.

We met a couple of local men on the bridge who were delighted with it and who pointed out fish to us. You could see on either bank people filling water and nearby work was going on on a pipeline. Marty found an acheulean hand axe on the bank, highly patinated. What marks these hand axes out is that they are shaped and pressure flaked before they are struck from the core.

We then continued on to Makamalabedi. Makamalabedi is a really pretty village. All the compounds are very neat and tidy looking and there are often well tended plants in them. Many of the traditional ntlo houses were decorated and had the traditional lowapa, a low wall creating a smaller space in front of the door. The veterinary fence that we passed through on our way to Meno A Kwena extends through here also and we had to pass the checkpoint. The friendly policeman there told us where we could get down to the river and so we went through the village and down there.

On our way we met a family in their Sunday best on their way to church and asked them when the river had arrived and it was only last night. We could see on the banks many people enjoying themselves. Children were splashing around as women and girls came and went with water containers. And everyone was very happy and you can understand why if you live in a desert next to a river which possibly hasn’t flowed in your lifetime.

We decided we’d carry on and see if we could find the leading edge of the river creping forward across the dusty earth. We went off the tarmac road and hugged the river banks. Along here were great molapo fields reacing almost from he crest of the bank down into the middle of the river beds. These are fields marked out by fences made from piles of acacia branches and saplings. They are quite an ingenious sort of agiculture. The idea is that you build your field and wait for he river to rise. Once the river has risen intoyour field you’re OK. Then as the water retreats you plant your crops and they are rooted well as trheir roots follow the retreating river water.

Down in the river beds we could see smaller area’s fenced off like this which were wells people had dug to reach the ground water. We had lunch in the shade of a tree high and dry up on the bank. Afterwards I went to look for scorpions in amongst the silcrete rocks on the river bed and scout a possible route back to the leading edge of the river through the field of spiky silcrete. What I found was the pelvic bones of a cow still joined at the symphysis and making a great mask for a sangoma. I took it back to where we were all sitting and Marty claimed it in the name of her grand-children.

I forgot to mention that on our way we’d lost sight of the river and when we came back to it it was dry as it ever was. Marty who can read landscapes like you can read the letters of this blog explained why. We could see that the river curved back to where we had last seen it and this curve was caused by the river having to edge round a large formation of silcrete below the topsoil.

OK, you’re up to speed now. So after lunch we continued back along the riverbank towards Makalamabedi weaving down to the river bed, up the bank and from one side of the riverbed to the other and passing molapo fields and wells along the way. Makalamabedi came back into sight above the river on the far bank then we emerged from the bush and saw a backie parked and a cluster of people so we headed towards them. The backie turned out to belong to Water Affairs and we’d found the leading edge of the river being very dramatic.

The river had found itself a nice narrow channel to creep along around the edge of the silcrete deposit. It had just arrived at the lip of a well dug in the river bed and the men from water affairs had broken the lip to allow the water into the well and replenish the groundwater. The water poured over the edge in a healthy torrent and to the delightof us and the onlookers swiftly filled the well and spilled over the edge and began to flow forward through the parched grass like so many glistening snakes.
So, how is it that a river which has been dry for 20 years suddenly return to life? The reason is good rains in Angola . One of the men from water Affairs told us that the waters were continuing to rise in the panhandle, i.e. the point of entry iof water to the Okavango Delta in northwestern Botswana.The river was a beautiful thing to see flowing through the desert, reflecting the blue of the sky and glittering invitingly through the trees. Just looking at it you can feel its coolness and really appreciate its importance, here in the desert as a source of life. This was something which I had never seen before, a river in the desert returning to life and I was sharing this amazement with the people who lived here some of whom had never seen the Boteti river flow in their lives. I may not see such a thing ever again in my life.

Birdie Time

2007-08-17T13:10:00.000Z

5 PM is birdie time here in the garden at Disaneng. Like clockwork Red-Eyed Bulbuls and a lot of other birds which I can’t identify descend on the garden and splash around in the bath. There’s also a gang of bold, raucus voiced ‘cheeky-birds’ who hop, hop hop around and investigate aywhere. They’ll hop into the kitchen and if you surprise them there they’l go into hysterics and fly around like crazy looking for a way out. Best thing to do is open a window and leave them alone to find their own way out .

Friday Night Pub Quiz At Matshwane School

2007-08-17T13:08:00.000Z

We had another foray into Maun soiety last night at a super-pub-quiz at Matshwane school. We went there with Hilary, she actually paid for half of our entrance as there was a deficit of two people on her table. We were seated with Anna-Lise who runs the gym and played Little Nell in the charity show production of Rocky Horror Show. There were four other people plus Hilary, Me, Anna, Helen & Lutz. Helen was an ex-park ranger from Southwark and Lutz was a really chucklesome pilot.

The table next to us were beefy Afrikaans pirates, some people came in fancy dress. They made a reall noise but were very funny and good fun. There was easily a hundred people in the great hall and like all Maun social events became a little too much of a good thing towards the end. But let me tell you what the good things were. Fun was the biggest good thi ng. There were hoots and cat-calls and local in jokes while the questions were being asked. The Dominatrix from the Maun charity concert was in charge of questions and crowd control. She’d done her best to make herself look like Ane Robinson of Weakest Link fame but in attitude she made Anne look like a drowned pussy-cat.

Then there was the food, provided by the schools Indian contingent. They had prepared a succulent chicken curry with REAL ROTI that was one of the highlights for me. Then there was meeting people. Anna-Lise is good fun but she was way down the other end of the table. I also met a woman who had surprised me that lunch time by saying hello to me in Hilary’s. She was one of those people who look dreadfully familiar but one can’t place. Anyway, she was very nice and very pleased to know that there were homoeopaths in Maun. Lutz was a funny guy and most of what we said to one another resulted in laughter on both sides. Karaoke was also a good thing. Instead of questions, one segment was singing. We all had to sing as a team. It’s Not Unusual by the inimitable Tom Jones was our song and I am pleased to say that Anne and I gave a good account of ourselves on backing vocals. But consider, 8 tables taking about 5 minutes each to get to the front and get their song set up and then sing about 2 minutes of it. Christ, it went on for almost an hour! The good thing was, the tunes were all danceable so that’s what was done.

By the time the winners had been announced, raffles drawn, other prizes handed our etc. It was one o’clock AM. And still there had to be the disco! Most people left including us as Hilary had taken us there and was heading home. The usual hard core of troublemakers stayed and with a regretful backward glance we left.

A KUDU REVEALS HIS DEATH

2007-08-09T19:27:00.000Z

I recently visited the game reserve to see the giraffes. As I entered the bush I saw a big Kudu buck and decided to follow him whither he would lead.

I would get just to the edge of his comfort zone and off he'd go, kicking his heels up and disapearing into the trees and sage brush and I'd continue in the same general direction and get glimpses of him ahead of me before he charged off again. This went on for about an hour until I emerged into a clearing and there he was on the other side striking a classic pose with his body in profile and his face towards me displaying a remarkable pair of spiral horns and bigpink funnel-like ears. The early morning sunlight was slanting down through the branches and creating a wonderful wilderness scene. By a miracle he stood still long enough for me to take a photograph of him before he skipped off again.

He gave a hop skip and a jump and appeared to disappear into a hole behind some bushes. Curious, I thought, and walked as quietly as possible over there. As I got closer I could see the Kudu lying on the ground. At first I thought I had surprised him taking a dust bath and he was playing dead, but no. This was a reall dead Kudu.

I had to say thanks to the Kudu for letting me have his photograph and letting me get this close to a real wild African animal and share his space. I could have touched him if I had wanted to but I thought it was best to let him have his last moments in peace.

As I slowly left the clearing pondering on what fate led me to see a Kudu, a real , live , wild African animal keel over and die of old age like that, I almost walked into a young Girraffe, minding his own business and quietly chewing the cud.

He was kind enough to let me draw his body, couldn't fit his head on the page! I've some picasso-esque sketches of his head though which he kept moving around. I saw three giraffes in all, one a mature female who galloped in silent slow motion into the trees! They're incredibly beautiful animals. And when they run, even with trees, bushes and branches all around there is absolute silence, it's like watching a dream!

Rowland's African Day

2007-08-05T16:10:00.000Z

I had a really African day on Saturday. For the first time in a long while I’vefelt as though I’m actually in Africa. In recent days we’ve been becoming busier and busier in and out of clinics and except for a visit to Hilary’s house we’ve just been working, doing admin to keep things running and going home.

However, things changed for me on Saturday when I had a bit of an odyssey. Saturday was the day Noah was meant to visit and check our poor weak backie out and see what was wrong with it and put it right. Anne elected to stay behind and wait for him as she was sick and tired of driving our sick and tired backie around. So I went in to town.

My first stop was at the barbers. I had intended tosee the guy again who Alex had reccomended at airport junction but he was not around so I walked up to Old Mall as there is a profusion of barbers shelters there.

The day was bright and the air was cool as I walked into town as it was not yet ten o’clock. It’s a nice feeling to walk along roads which you normally drive down in the heat of midday, full of traffic between one appointment or another and these roads are quiet and the traffic moves slowly.

As usual there were crowds of people and vehicles outside shoprite, combies still jostled for position at the rank and the soundsystem still played fluid rythmic tunes into the air but I had time to take it in. The bright light forces you to squint and this narrows your field of vision to a space immediately in front of you and the environment is felt rather than seen until you reach a patch of shade and can widen your vision and take things in.

You can see big built Batswana middle class families coming and going at shoprite in big 4X4’s, tiny barefoot children with tinier siblings stand in groups intent on childish things, there are young women getting their hair braided in the shade of trees and awnings, phone credit hawkers in yellow vests break away from the crowds at the bus station like free electrons from the nucleus of an atom, flash youths in baseball caps, polo shirts and ripped jeans prowl the mall, young guys stand in groups chatting, laughing, smoking shouting out to their friends passing in cars, great stately Hereo women in brightly colored cloth sailing through the dust and crowds, gents in dark two-piece suits, collar and tie wearing stinge brim trilby’s looking like CIA men.

Like the Indian barber who practices his art on the street in the shade of a tree the barbers of Maun work in shacks made from planks and shade netting which provide a cool cave like shelter from the bustle of the street. Inside written in felt tip on the wall is the tarrif and below it are glued fragments of a mirror in which you can see your portrait as Picasso might have painted it.

You can choose an office cut, an English cut, a brush cut, a brush cut punk, or just a shave-no-style. Not knowing what to choose I asked the barber to make my hair short and smart and waited for the sesult.

Anne and I are hoping to include some barbers signs in the Sign Safari. They all appear to be in the same hand and include 3 heads which look like they are Batswana celebrities copied from films or newspapers. And, they all appear to advertise 3 styles, short, very short and shiny. I was fortunate and came away with a sort of Matt Gloss, which suited me fine.

I then turned my footsteps down Tsheko Tsheko road, past Choppies another big supermarket on one side and the victorian looking general dealers, butchers shop and electrical dealers on the other, with it’s concrete arcade and cool, dim, cavernous shops entered by a single door and smelling of dust and dried goods. Down Tsheko Tsheko road (which means Court-Case Court-Case Road) to the 4 way junction and turned left at the Hereo settlement corner and headed down to the small bridge which would take me to the Francistown road.

On my way there I passed students in their blue uniforms, I was passed by a wedding party driving slowly and tooting, a group of singers in lime green shirtsand orange waistcoats belting out songs from the back of a backie and giving thumbs up to everyone they pass, donkeys drowsing by the side of the road, herds of apparently unacompanied goats coming upo the embankment beside the bridge, horses wading in the river nibbling reeds, young people looking as though they are waiting to meet other young people on the bridge and finally I turn right, onto the Francistown road.

The Francistown oad is long and straight and in the full heat of the day, I pass builders yards and garages and the take-away/liquor rests that we pass on our way back from the pool which look so lively and inviting in the light of a Saturday evening. Cars pull up and drive away, a few people hang around outside drinking soft drinks and talking into mobiles, huddles of people with there baggage stand in the dust in the shade waiting for the hourly Francistown combie.

I reach the Ubuntu Cellphone & Landline shop and remember that I’ve not year eaten breakfast. But first, a note on Ubuntu. What is Ubuntu, Mageu maize milk ‘Salutes the Spirit of Ubuntu’, a liqueur made from Morula trees is decorated with ‘Ubuntu Beads’. Mary tells me that Ubuntu, roughly translated means ‘ancestral spirit or the soirit of the ancestors or something very traditional.

I head for the second Take-Away/Liquor-Rest outside of Maun, the Boseja Take-Away. These places, like the general dealer and butchers I mentioned earlier have a victorian appearance, being a single storey L shaped block of a building with the roof coming down low over the walk in front of the stores and making an arcade. These are the parts of Maun that really give it it’s frontiers-town atmosphere. Again the stores inside are dim and quaint knocked together looking. The Boseja Take-Away consisted of a counter behind which stood three big coke and beer fridges, full of beer, coke, softdrinks and things to be kept cool. On the counter in a glass prism were bags of fresh doughnuts and sliced grubby looking bread (aside from Hilary’s home-made bread available in loaves from the coffee shop bread is in a pretty low stageof evolutin here) and plates of Chicken & Macaroni, Chicken & Rice, Chicken & Papa.

There was a hand drawn and decorated ‘halal’ sign over the kitchen door and the place was run by a smiling, friendly Indian man with big Indian hair and a moustache. He was very helpful in explaining the intricacies of his menu and so I chose the chicken and macaroni which was spiced up by a big blob of ketchup. As I dined I was able to appreciate the idiosyncracies of decoration within the Take-Away. The walls were a smoky orange and were overpainted with abstract unmistakeable tiger stripe patterns. What lent the place a disturbing quality was the addition of about 4 pairs of Tigers’ eyes peering through the jungle and looking hungrily at the customers as they ate their chicken.

MMMM! That filled a yawning chasm at my core and I set off bouyed by a healthy balance of spices, e-numbers, protein and carbohydrate for my weekend swim.

I had still further to walk before the giant watertower on stilts which marks Matshwane school appeared. I let myself in as there was no old deuteronomy guarding the gate and went to the pool. Walking round to the deep end the air felt warmer than usual. I steeled myself to dive into the icy night cooled waters and dived in. Yet, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the water wasn’t quite so cold and when I reached the other end of the pool I was even happier to find that I was withouth the urge to leap out of the pool, dry off and bake for the rest of the day. I lounged for a bit with my elbows on the side and enjoyed the contrast of the hot sun, warm breeze and now invitingly cold water.

I did 18 lengths in two sessions with a baking out period in between. I was once again pleasantly surprised at my stamina which I now, on reflection ascribe to the running I now do every other day. As I knew I had a long walk back into town and dinner at Marty’s at 6 I left at about 3.30 while the sun was still hot.

The problem now was how to get home with the greatest expedience without having to walk home the way we drive as it is a very very dusty road. The easiest way would be a combie to the big bridge and then walk down along the river. This is what happened and so I was able to enjoy a walk home along the river in the beautiful African afternoon light.

Check It Out!

2007-08-05T12:44:00.000Z

Hey folks!

I can now put pictures in my text! Lets's see what appears in the future!

आ वाल्क ब्य थे रिवर / A Walk By The River

2007-08-03T19:29:00.000Z

Hi Folks! All of a sudden the Hindi converter starts working again! Apologies to all my readers inHindi who have missed this in recent posts.

Here you see some pictures from a recent walk along the river bank and an exhibit from the Sign Safari। नमस्ते, हिंदी रेअदेर्स! वेल्कोमे बैक!हेरे यू सी सोम पिक्टुरेस फ्रॉम आ रेसन्त वाल्क अलोंग थे रिवर बैंक ऎंड अन लुठेरण चर्च थे ऎंड वी।

The sun is begining to linger longer in the sky in the evenings and the river is higher than ever and is a very beautiful place to be in the evening. This is good as our lives here are beoming busier by the minute. more and more patients are visiting us at the private clinic. This is good as the patients who pay to see us there help to support the free homoeopathy clinics we run at The Lutheran ChurchThursday is by far our busiest day. It is a full day at the Lutheran Church Clinic and we अरे now seeing around eight patients each। Patient numbers have been gradually creeping up on a Thursday and down on a Monday because people have begun to think that Thursday is our quiet day. So we've been asking our patients to come for their follow up visits on a Monday.

Wednesday is quite a hard day as it is the day we see our home visit patients. As I have said before these consultations are hard because the patients are very sick and bedridden. The consultation is haarder because you are in a room with a very sick person, their relatives our translator and another homoeopath. One can feel concerned about the expectations of the patient and their family, concerned about intruding into a persons home with a great caravan of people as well as trying to come to a decision about how to prescribe and handle the case.

You need a cool head to do this and it's not easy but thankfully our days were not so full as they are now when I first startred. This gave me the chance to understand our prescribing method and the dynamics of our various consultations. I feel comfortable now about involving the patients relatives and our interpreter in the consultation and using their input and insights into the case. It was something I did in the past as a matter of form but now it feels like a natural and comfortablepart of the consultation.

We've got a good protocul between us as homoeopaths, Anne and I which we organised when there were three of us including Julia. We go through the cases before the home visits to get an undertsanding of the cases and decide who will take the case and who will facilitate the prescription. This gives the prescribing homoeopaths two heads to think with and makes the vexed questions about remedies and potency easier to overcome if the case is difficult.

Still, it's a hard days work. Thankfully we get on well and take care of each other. We've both got experiences and insights to share and have a good laugh when we're not working. I'm glad to say we're a good team!

Three Patients Sitting In The Sun.

2007-07-26T19:53:00.001Z

Today (Wednesday 25th July) was one of our hardest working days। Wednesdays usually are as they are the days we do home visits। Home visits are hard work for several reasons. They require us driving over very rough and/or sandy roads and we often get stuck in the sand; Consultations are often taken outside patients houses in the yard in the heat of the sun; We see very weak and often bedridden patients; We see very severe physical pathology. On the plus side we meet very strong people.

The patients’ strength makes their condition all the more poignant as we meet very strong people who are imprisoned in their own bodies through weakness. You can hear their strength in their voices, see it in their eyes or hear it in their words and it makes them appear in a very pitiful and tortured state as they cannot fend for themselves or engage with the world at large any more.

Seeing this strength although saddening to see imprisoned in a bed makes me optimistic that the patient will in time recover and this week I’ve seen this strength win through.

Today we were very happy to see three of our patients who were bedridden a week ago sitting outside in the sun. One was the albino patient I described in an earlier posting. Her first words when we met her were ‘I’m well!’. Her ulcers were clearly healing and she was very pleased to show us the progress they were making whereas at our previous visit shewas very weak and in a lot of pain and her ulcers were open wounds.

Our second patient had been in bed for months with diarrhoea and vomiting. Today she was sitting in her yard in the shade of a tree, proud to tell us that she could walk to her outhouse and back. Next time, she told us ‘You’ll see me cooking’.

Our third patient had also had constant diarrhoea which was now improved. Like the other patients she was sitting in her yard in the sun with her mother, her daughter and her grandchildren who were all playing at ‘foreigners in a decrepit pick-up stuck in the sand’.

I’m not describing people rising from the dead here. In all three cases there is a long way to go before they are as healthy as they’d like to be but the fact that they are out of bed, have more physical comfort and energy than before and doing things they enjoy is a big step for them on the road to recovery.

I’m pleased to say that many of the patients I am seeing now are improving or are returning to homoeopathy after a long time of being well. I’m not saying that this is all down to my sudden appearance on the scene. It is more due to the strength which the patients themselves posess and the many other homoeopaths who have added their skill to the proces of recovery.

The Flexibility of The Triad Method.

2007-07-26T19:50:00.000Z

It’s when there is a change in symptoms rather than an improvement after the first prescription that one can see the flexibility of the triad method. An easy example togive is the first case at a subsequent follow up.

***The patient did well on their first and second prescriptions but they have returned. Their joint pains have returned but they find that they are now worse at the end of the day when they are at rest. They have to keep moving to keep the pains at bay. They began again around the time their children were threatened with expulsion from school because they were late with school fees (Everyone has to pay school fees in Botswana whether government or private school). The patient became worried for their children's future and took on extra work. Nothing much else worries them aside from their families welfare and their responsibilities.

In this case the aetiology of the joint pains and their characteristic of being worse for rest and better for continued motion indicates not Bryonia but Rhus Tox. The patients underlying constitution and background remain unchanged so far so the prescription can be repeated with the Bryonia, the initial remedy for the patients joint symptoms being changed for Rhus. Tox. Calc and Carc can be repeated as before.

More Medicine of Experience.

2007-07-26T18:38:00.000Z

I’d like to let you know more about the triad method and how I am using it in the treatment of patients with HIV. I described it in an earlier post as being like an often repeated single remedy. It is like that but it is also a subtle and flexible therapeutic intervention.

To make this easier I’ll give you an example of triad prescriptions for the sort of cases we often see. The cases given below are outline examples as a full case taking would be too much to present.

*** A patient has begun to get joint pains which are worse on motion and better for rest, these areaccompanied by a terrible headache which makes them just want to sit still and not be bothered by anybody. They naturally have become very bad tempered. Their focus in life is their home and family as they had to care for younger siblings and older relatives from an early age their parents died of cancer. They have recently had to cope with a bereavement and now care for another family members’ children. They take this responsibility very seriously. Their major worries are the pains which prevent them from working and this in turn makes them worry about how they will cope with their responsibilities.

After repertorisation the well indicated remedies include Bryonia, Cal.Carb. and Carcinosin. In this sort of case we would usually give each remedy one day apart in the appropriate potency for up 3 weeks Bryonia on Mondays, Calc. on Wednesdays and Carc. on Fridays.

Case 2

*** A patient is seen at home and they present with with diarrhoea accompanied by burning pains, respiratory difficulties, generalized physical pains at night and a very depresed state of mind. This has been continuing on and off for a long time but is now a chronic state and they are rapidly emaciating though they are trying to eat.

The well indicated remedies repertorise out as Ars. Alb.; Carbo.Veg.; and Syph.

As the condition is long standing and day by day worsens the patients health the remedies would be given over the course of a day in an appropriately low potency for a week.

In these hypothetical cases the patients show a good response at the follow up, they’re not completely cured but they’re much better than before.

So far so good. In these two cases the triad prescription has acted like a single remedy. There’s been a good reaction in the patient on all levels and the prescription can be repeated with confidence that it will continue the curative response in the patient.

The Dawning Of A New Era

2007-07-26T18:29:00.000Z

The river is halfway up the tree trunk which marks the makorro stop behind our house. The river is high all along the banks. The landscaspe here is in constant flux. The new road being built has successive layers of surfasce put on it and levelled off. The tyre tracks on the dirt roads which have been carved in the land beside it, winding in and out of trees seem to develop and lose ruts and potholes by the day.

We’re entering a new and exciting phase here in Maun. It is only one third as exciting now as it was a week or two ago but it is still exciting. Initially Anne and I were to be responsible for setting up a new clinic in Sehitwa, 90K southwest of Maun on the shores of Lake Ngami. We were also given responsibility for re-energising the poorly attended Senonori Support Group Clinic and of re-establishing our relationship with Bana Ba Letsatsi which means children of the street and as you can see from it’s name is a charity for streetchildren and children orphaned by HIV.

Sehitwa and Senonori unfortunately had to be put on the back burner because of logistical difficulties. As Sehitwa is 90k away we would have had to have used a vehicle other than our backie which is in pretty poor condition because it has to cope with some pretty rough terrain and is driven by several different people each year who each have to get used to an antiquated backie and very rough roads. This problem was almost solved by a member of the Lutheran Church’s congragation offering to loan us a vehicle for the journey. The only problem was, they wanted us to pay for mileage/wear and tear to the vehicle at 3 pula per kilometer in addition to us paying for petrol.

Then there was the question of which day we should go. We’d all agreed that once a month was a good routine for a one day clinic at the Lutheran Church in Sehitwa. For the Sehitwa group Thursdays was a god day. For MHP Mondays were preferable. Because there were too many if’s and but’s this project has to beleft until we get a new vehicle in September.

Senonori is another pickle. The time before last when we visited we saw only one patient. We had a chat with Rosinah the Senonori Support Group leader and she suggested that it was due to people’s fear of being stigmatised that they didn’t come to see us. We had another discussion with Rosinah this week and she told us the following story. As well as people in the area being worried about becoming stigmatised if they are seen visiting the homoeopathic clinic there is also a problem with the support group itself with whom we work. I can’t be quite sure of what it is despite having spoken to Rosinah who is Senonori support Group’s founder. It has something to do with it not being registered with the regional council department which looks after support groups despite SSG having applied for registration 3 years ago. Rosinah tells me that in addition to a lack of local government support and the fear of stigma of it’s members there is also now a suspicion in the community that Maun Homeopathy Project is something to do with the local council and we are checking up on them.

We’d arranged with Rosinah on several occasions to speak at local Kgotla meetings but due to one cause or another they’ve not happened. So, we are to continue turning up at Senonori but not to expect much to happen.

So, like I said, due to the Senonori and Sehitwa projects being put on the shelf things are only one third as exciting as they appeared to be. We do still have Bana Ba Letsatsi to look forward to which we will begin in August.

Homeopathy Research Institute

2007-07-24T19:35:00.000Z

Even though I am out of the country I have my ear to the ground. This has come to me via Helen Dalton who is part of the South East London Homeopathy Group (SELHOG) team and who runs a case supervision group which Anne and I attend. This sounds like a very interesting project.

Homeopathy Research Institute
www.homeopathyresearchinstitute.org
PRESS RELEASE
(July 16TH 2007, London) The inaugural Board Meeting of the newly
formed Homeopathy Research Institute (HRI), took place in London in
June signalling a new era in the field of homeopathic research in the
UK.
The aim of the Homeopathy Research Institute is to promote and
facilitate high-quality scientific research in the field of homeopathy.

The HRI will be the first central resource dedicated solely to research

about homeopathy as it is practised today. A key task of the Institute
will be to communicate about the science relating to homeopathy to the
medical and scientific communities, the media, the general public, and
to homeopaths themselves. The Institute will form a bridge between the
scientific and homeopathic communities backed up by a strong PR and
communications team.
The Institute was founded by Dr. Alexander Tournier who holds a PhD in
Biophysics from the University of Heidelberg and is a fellow at Cancer
Research UK in addition to being a qualified homeopath. This background

places Dr. Tournier in the unusual position of being able to speak the
language of both academic science and homeopathy. He says, “Through
this institute, my aims are to strengthen the scientific foundations of

homeopathy, and promote homeopathy as a sound system of medicine
well-deserving of a place alongside conventional medicine."
The HRI’s Board of Directors consists of Dr. Tournier, Clare Relton
Msc, RSHom, (DH training fellow in CAM Health Services Research at the
University of Sheffield), Marcus Fernandez LCPH, MHMA, (homeopath and
vice-principal of the Centre for Homeopathic Education), and Dr. Nagin
Lad PhD, LCHE, (biochemist and homeopath). The Board is currently
supported by a team of consultants including Dr. Patti Bayliss, McHB,
FRCG, Sara Perkins Bran LCHE, (PR consultant and homeopath), and Dr.
Natasa Peric-Concha PhD , (molecular biologist and trainee homeopath).
At the inaugural Board Meeting, the participants established a
Scientific Committee in charge of developing the research program of
the Institute. The Scientific Committee is headed by Dr. Tournier along

with Clare Relton, and is presently composed of Dr. Lad and Dr.
Peric-Concha, Dr. Lionel R. Milgrom PhD, FRSC, RSHom, MARH, Dr. Mike
Emmans Dean PhD, MARH, Dr. Elizabeth Thompson MBBS, MRCP, FFHom, and
Prof. Kate Thomas among others.
Clare Relton, who is currently developing appropriate trial designs for

homeopathy research says, “I am very excited to be a part of the
Homeopathy Research Institute as it will pull together ongoing
homeopathy research and be a resource for new trials. Treatment
methods, homeopathic remedies and principles, cost effectiveness,
efficacy and safety are all areas the Institute will be examining.”
The Board also elected a PR Committee entrusted with developing the
communications strategy of the Institute. This consists of Marcus
Fernandez, Sara Perkins Bran and Natasa Peric-Concha.
The HRI invites participation from interested groups and individuals.
In particular, we would like to hear from people with fund-raising
expertise who are interested in consulting with our PR Committee. If
you would like to donate funds, find out more or help in some way,
please contact us.
Contacts:
Scientific Committee:
Dr Alexander Tournier PhD, LCHE
alextournier@homeopathyresearchinstitute.org
Phone 07843275751
PR Committee:
Sara Perkins Bran BA (Hons), LCHE
sara@imagohomeopathy.com
Phone: 020 8961 5948
Or visit www.homeopathyresearchinstitute.org

The Medicine Of Experience

2007-07-15T20:55:00.000Z

You’ll all be pleased to hear that I am beginning to understand the triad method. The founder of homoeopathy, Samuel Hahnemann described homoeopathy as the medicine of experience. It is only through direct experience that one can understand its scope whether as a patient or as a prescriber.

Seeing the patient

In this way have I come to understand the Triad Method we use to prescribe here. So, what happenned? Well, let’s look at it sequentially. Initially in the first two weeks of my stay hereI was looking at cases overJulia’s shoulder. It’s hard for me to get a real undertanding of a case from an observers position. It’s strange to imagine this but picture it. You’re in the same room as the patient and prescriber, not three feet away from them but the essential thing is, you are not face to face with the patient communicating with them directly. Sure, you have the time to read through their case notes and listenas the prescriber takes the case but you’ve not entered into a direct relationship with the patient.

The response to the remedy

The other problem was that many cases I saw befeore working solo were quite stuck. The patients had been neither getting worse nor appreciably better. They were generally long term patients and had a long history of remedies which had not moved them forward a great deal. So, you can understand, that when faced with this situation it is impossible to see how a patient has responded to a remedy and thus understand the prescription.

The development in my understanding of the Triad method came most importantly from working directly with patients. The first occasion was with an albino patient who has terrible ulcers on their skin. When we returned for a follow up we found them in a very weak condition. It appeared that they had become worse. One leg was swollen and had boken out in new eruptions.

Law of direction of cure

So how did this help to understand the Triad Method? The answer is careful case taking. We discovered that despite there not having been a general overall improvement her symptoms had shown movement in the direction of cure. Let me explain what this means. The Law of Direction Of Cure is probably better described as The Theory of Direction Of Cure as it can only be confirmed by repeated observations. Now, as each patient is an individual and will respond in different ways to the remedy the Law Of Direction Of Cure (LODC) cannot always be observed but it’s been observed often enough by homoeopaths that it has become an empirical guide to homoeopathic prognosis.

LODC states that illnesses is cured by the body healing itself from within to without. You can observe LODC operating in reverse during a cold. Usually the first symptoms to appear will be in the upper respiratory tract, the nose and throat. As the cold progresses it will begin to affect the lungs. This hypothetical cold will resolve under homoeopathic treatment according to LODC with the lungs being cleared first followed by the upper respiratory tract symptoms. Homoeopaths have seen this process at work in both chronic and acute illnesses. The law can be generalized to say that symptoms are observed to move from the centre of the body to the periphery; or from more vital organs to mucus surfaces or the skin.

In the case of the patient with the ulcerated skin we found, by careful case taking that although there appeared to be a worsening of symptoms (ulcers at a new site on the body and inflammation) they were moving from centre to periphery. During treatment the uklcers on the patients abdomen had cleared while new ones had appeared on their leg.
While the patients case remained serious from the perspective of pathology there was hope that their ulcers would heal as demonstrated by observation of LODC.

This demonstrated to me that the Triad Method of prescribing remedies worked and made it easier for me to accept it as a method to work with. At present I think that it would be impossible to say whether the patient responded to only one of the remedies or all of the remedies. For the sake of my peace of mind and to avoid expending valuable brain power on this question I rationalised that a triad prescription should be looked at as an often repeated single remedy. In application it is not this. Each remedy of the triad is taken sepparately but for the sake of case analysis it has to be seen as a single remedy to which the patient responds.

OK, so, I had seen a triad of remedies produce a favourable response in one patient. The next week I began practising solo. I was able to apply what I had learned under Julia’s close supervision to the cases which were returning to the clinics. My life as a prescriber was made much easier by the responses the patients had had on their remedies. Most of the patients I have seen since I began prsctising solo have been away from the clinics for up to a year because their last prescription produced such a favourable response.

Leaps in learning

How did this help me understand the Triad Method? Firstly seeing patients improve who are HIV positive and being treated with Anti Retroviral drugs (ARV’s) which can have some very debilitating side effects reinforced my acceptance of the Triad Method’s ability to work IN PRACTICE as opposed to theory; Secondly reading the patients notes, previous prescriptions and responses allowed me to understand further how triad prescriptions were formulated in response to which symptoms; Thirdly I was able to feel confident in my understanding of the case of each patient as they presented it to me and confident in my ability to respond with an appropriate triad of remedies.

I’ve been pleased to see that patients who I have prescribed for recently return with a good response to remedies which I have prescribed. This has really improved my confidence in using the Triad Method as I have begun to understand it by direct experience of working with it and seeing it work.

2007-07-09T05:27:00.000Z

Wildlife of The Okavango

First let me begin with apologies to everyone reading this blog for my misinforming you on several occasions about the name of the river which runs through Maun. Be pleased to know that it is the Thamalakane river and shares it’s name with the Thamalakane fault line along which it flows in a roughly NE,SW direction. The Thamalakene is fed by three rivers the southern most of which is the Boro. These all flow out of the Okavango Delta. South of Maun the Thamalakane river divides into the Boteti and Nahabe Rivers. The Nahabe flows southwest towards Sehitwa and is joined by the Whanx river and they both flow into Lake Ngami with Sehitwa on it’s shores.

Julia will be having her own very special wildlife experience. Julia has been spirited away to the ‘camps’ where she will be treating camp staff with homoeopathy. The camps belong to a group called Sanctuary and their personell officer, Mary, has been liaissing with Solly the MD of Itekanele health insurance to get us up to the camps. This is great news for the Maun Homoeopathy Project as it means the charity will be paid a monthly retainer to treat the staff at Sanctuary Safari Camps whether they tutn up for treatment or not. It’s good for us homoeopaths too as it means we each get a trip out to these places toeards the end of our terms in Botswana.

I’ve really been enjoying the wildlife here. Once again I must apologise for misnaming a Lilac Breasted Roller as a Lilac Breasted Rocker. Easy mistake to make. I was also lucky enough to see a Raquet Tailed Roller on the road up from the Thamalakane River just before the turn off for Francistown. So, my wildlife log so far, in chronological order is…Goats, Brahmin Cattle, Donkeys, Horses, Pied Kingfishers, Girraffes, Zebras, Warthogs, Wildebeest, Impala (not Kudu as I have probably misinformed you before), Hippopotami, Fish Eagles, Sacred Ibis, Lilac Breasted Roller, Blue Waxbills, Yellowbilled & Bradfields Hornbills, Hammerkop, Bearded Woodpecker, Yellowbilled & Yellowbilled Oxpecker, Hoopoe, Grey Lourie.

I can also identify a Mopane tree. Anne and I are determined not to be left out of the wildlife experience stakes. Last night 07/07/07 we went for a walk to the Old Wooden Bridge which crosses the river just before Old Bridge. This is a good long walk. If you begin on the southern Disaneg bank you have an interesting walk as there are now about 3 new makorro ferries to tak you across. They were not there when I made my first walk in this direction about a week ago. Now the river is much higher and is beginning to eat into the vehicle track which runs towards Maun town.

If uou begin on the disaneng bank you meet, after about half an hours walking fences and bushes which mark the bopundaries of someone’sland. These are impassable and meen that you have to turn south towards the new road which is being built through disanengand loop round the fenced in land. Once you have found your way back through the sage brush ( for that is what it is, many many yellow green sage bushes interspersed with Mopane trees and others) around the houses and down to theriverbank you continue along in the gentle evening sun. Eventually the bank in front of you curves west and appears to meet the northern Sedia bank. This feels a bit disorienting the first time you do it as it feels as if you have simply walked along the banks of a canal. If you follow the bank round and double back on yourself you realize thet you have followed a U shape down one arrm, along the base and up the other. So, now you’re standing at the top of the right arm of the U. The river flows down past this arm and you can now see the Sedia bank clearly and tou realize that you are still on the Disaneng bank.

Up river about 100 yards away is the ould wooden bridge which is a very beautiful spot. It is constructed from concrete and treetrunks laid over short sections of concrete pipe through which the river flows and it’s pillars are large live trees which povide an avenue of welcome shade to anyone crossing the bridge. If you cross the bridge from Disaneng bank towards the Sedia road bank you can walk back along this bank by walking along a road through a neighbourhood and then turning left down the alley between two compounds back onto the riverbank.

Walking the river along the Sedia road bank is muchquicker than on the Disaneng bank as one does not need to curve away from it at any point, nor negotiate small game trails gthrough thorny bushes. However, last night Anneand I decided to walk towards the bridge along this route and back along the Disaneng bank towards home.

We walked some of the way to the bridge along the Disaneng bank because we wanted to cross to the Sedia side by one of the other Makorro ferries. Captain Small Makorro is very very busy al day it appears. About 100 yerds up is Mma Makorro, so called because it is run by a venerable old lady further on there is Rootsy Makorro, so called because it is a fibreglass boat but in the shape of a traditionl wooden makorro and has no seats. Like Captain Small Makorro and Small Boy Makorro, Rootsy Makorro is punted back and forth by a small boy who pole vaults onto shore from the back of the boat to haul the boat in. After Rootsy Makorro is Small Boy Makorro and then Cattle Makorro. There is also Bridge Makorro at the bridge.

We chose Rootsy Makorro because he doesn't’t seem to get half as much trade as Captain Small Makorro. Also Mma Makorro was not around. But in future I think we will stick with rootsy. We passed small-boy-Makorro and Cattle Makorro and walked along the vehicle tracks in the sage brush. We were passed by a man teaching his son to ride his bike. The man had a broom jammed down through the forks behind the saddle down to that bit where the pedals are attached and was jogging along acting as a sort of stabiliser. They also had 3 dogs with them. Two spaniel type things and one Boer Bull type dog. All 3 were chasing birds. The Boer Bull actually ran into the river and began swimming in pursuit of a bird on the wing (a type of shrike, I think) which led him mid-stream before turning and flying back to land.

Anne and I saw some good birdlife on the way. We saw our old friend the Roller who is very timid and who only lets you get so close before flying away in a streak of electric blue. We saw a Pied kingfisher fishing and a Hammerkop dabbling. We arrived at the Old Wooden Bridge very late in the afternoon but a beautiful saffron light wast stil shafting through the trees on the Sedia bank. The Old Wooden Bridge always has a very good atmosphere and especially so on a Saturday evening. When I first came up that way I walked past the campsite and met the owner a jolly old Batswana man who told me about his camp and his orchard and how difficult things were for growing crops as Botswana’s rains hadn’t been so good that year.

Anne and I crossed the bridge and decided against followingthe river towards Old Road Bridge and Hippo Pool as it was getting late. If we didn’t want to walk back in the dark we should turn back now. We walked along the spur of land which forms the right arm of the U and into the real forest that covers it. Works of art was part of the that days themes of conversation. One of our conversations touched on Skrimshaw. We’d been approached by an artist outside the Okavango pharmacy the other day selling carved and skrimshawed keyrings which looked suspiciously like ivory. Thankfully Anne has a lot of experience of bones through her work as an archaeologist andwas able to assure us that it was bone.

Now, I’ve been really interested in Skrimshaw ever since my dad brought me home a walrus tusk with an original skrimshaw commemoratingthe victory of the US frigate ‘Constitution’ oover the British manned, captured French ship Guerrier. And I’ve always been up for the opportunity for working in that medium. So one of the things we wereon thelookout for were bones. You can often find Cattle bones a and pieces of mangled goat strewn along the river bank. We found a nice small fragment of femur and as we walked around the promontary found a great cows tibia, nice andfresh. Unfortunately we had to leave it as it was very bigand we had nothing to carry it home in so I will make do with practisingon this nice smooth, shiny piece of femur.

So, like I said, walking back along the Disaneng bank means having to negotiate a loop behind the compounds which run up to the waters edge and a couple of meandering paths through thorny bushes. It is not the quick way home. It does however have the advantage of being the riverbank on which we live so we don’t have to worry about whether we’ll be in time to catch the last makorro across the river.

We picked up the pace as the light began to fade. This is the time of day the riverbank becomes more dangerous as it becomes the haunt of hippos who tend to charge firstand ask questions later. I was feeling confident that we would see any hippo’s before they saw us and also I knew the way home so I was feeling fairly chirpy by comparison to Anne. Now, Anne is no wet behind the ears hobby homoeopath, oh no. I told you before she was an archaeologist and as such she earned her stripes roughing it with the roughest of them in Cyprus, Israel and merrie England. And grew up in Dublin and Birmingham, and Nannied with the best of them in Islington. Anne’s no softie but the prospect of meeting a hippo by surprise was a prospect of no joyous portent.

So as we trecked on and the conversation turned to how we could make the best out5 of an encounter with hippos. I reminded Anne that hippo’s have a big turning circle and so all we would need to do is double back, then again as it was so dark, nipping behind a bush would be a good option as well as doubling back. I was also pretty sure that the hippo’s would spot me better as I was wearing lighter clothes so I could run while Anne nipped behind a bush and then I could double back.

I don’t think these suggestions did much for ither of our confidences but it passed the time. That is until the bats came out. Anne is no fan of bats. But soon and sure enough we reached the path to our back gate and breathed a sigh of relief to be home, safe from marauding hippos and swooping bats. I cooked a light and celebratory cheese omlettes for us both. I had been planning to manage to make the omlette I made for myself as good as the one I made for Anne. Until that evening, if I had ever cooked omlettes for us all I had succeded in slightly overdoing the outside of mine.

Things were going well the eggs beaten with a spoonful of yoghurt were coalescing and turning a pleasing shade of yellow. I swirled the pan and sent the surplus out to the edges thus evening up the depth of the omlette. As I made the salad I paid attention to the pan, now on a low heat until the edges of the omlet began to twitch free of the pan. I picked up the pan and gave it a shake and the omlette slid smoothly. I had decided that I would seal the inside briefly sendit back over and then add the feta cheese.

I flipped the omlette like those wafer perfect pancakes which added extra relish to Chris Coombes and Claire’s party in the Barbican. Down it came, pan perfect and sizzled with the air of a cat which has found a warm and welcoming lap. I jiggled the omlette again. The inside was sealed just nicely, up and over and add the feta. But it was not to be. Oh no. I wasn’t going to be the man who would be eating an omlette just as good as his pal’s that night. Up went the omlette, down campe the omlette only to catch its edge on the pan and come a very nasty cropper.

Polly helped me tidy the kitchen by eating 1/5 of my omlette off the kitchen floor and Anne made me feel a lot better by giving me a little piece of her omlette which was a beauty if I do say so myself. Altogtether, that day a splendid time was had by all.

Wildlife Park

As if we hadn’t had enough. Today (08/07/07) Anne and I drove over to the wildlife park.. This is a fenced off area of bush. You can see the fences from town extending half way into the river and you can walk up to them from our place which gives you an Idea of how big it is.

I think today our mission was really to scout the place out and generally see what we could see. We walked in a straight line pretty much for 2 hours through sage brush and forest and down to the rivers edge. We had some good encounters along the way. First things we saw were squirrels. Then – Wow, excuse this interuption readers but I have just heard a hippo grunt close by. I have heard them in the afternoon on days when I have seen them on the bank but never so late at night and never, apparently so close to the compound. A hippo grunt sounds like a pig grunt about fivetimes in quick succession, grunt-grunt-grunt-grunt-grunt. But of course you can tell that it comes from a larger and more cavernous beastie.

So, next in the wildlifw park we saw pretty warthogs rooting and down at the rivers edge very timid ground hornbills and a fisheagle carrying lunch home in its talons. Also a bearded woodpecker diligently knock-knock-knocking for grubs and really ignoring us until I thought I’d try to take his photo when he became suddenly alert and went to find a more peaceful tree.

Then, through the trees an ubiquitous sage brush we saw a new russet brown, more vital than the grey looking tree trunks. It was an Impala. Chosing separate paths and moving as slowly and quietly as we could we moved towards them. They had seen us a long time before we had seen them and they transformed themselves into a blur of brown and white and were away. We followed in the direction they had taken, slowly and quietly hoping to glimpse them as they paused.

They are very beautiful creatrues to watch moving, they appear not to touch the ground as they leap away into the shadows. One moment there are three Impala in a clearing standing still and you can feel 6 black eyes watching the way you move. Suddenly the leader will give a snort like a starting gun and many more bodies than you had seen will flach through the dappled shade each one different in size and shape but all part of a stream of energetic beauty.

The wildebeest are much harder to see as they are as grey as the shade and the tree trunks but we made one or two out as the Impala flew noislessly past them, the impala’s golden bodies throwing the grey of the Wildebeest into silhouette.

Finally we saw Zebra in groups of three. The Zebra were far less timid than the Impala and far slower moving. One of the group would stand their ground as we approached, face on to us and twitching it’s top lip over it’s teeth. They’re great little horses, if indeed they are horses. Are Zebras horses? A crate of Maun’s finest Champagne to anyone who can tell me! Whatever speicies Zebras belong to they are very good to look at. They are well rounded in a baroque way and move with an indescribable (for me anyway) dignity. I’m so glad I have had the chance to see these animalsup close and in their natural habitat.

We didn’t see the Giraffes which I think are the prize. It would be an amazing experience to be able to walk as close as one could to these animals. I was thinking about the Giraffe recently. They are built along the lines of prehistoric animals yet they really are beautiful and that, I think is what stops them looking so obviously strange. Their beauty takes your mind off their weird shape.

Also, a box of Maun cigars to anyone who can tell me whether there is an Aesop’s fable or Just So Story to explain why chocolate is poisonous to dogs.

Trouble With Triad

2007-07-02T22:17:00.000Z

The Triad Method is a little bit of a problem for me from the point of view of homoeopathic philosophy and here’s why. I’m classically trained so the basic prescribing method I am familiar with is one appropriate remedy, watch and wait. Whether prescribing for an acute or chronic case. Then repeat or change the remedy according to the response.

In the 6 months before I left for Botswana I’d been familiarising myself with Eizayager’s layers method and so when I was introduced to the Triad Method at my induction for the project it sounded like a reasonable way of going about things. In theory, that is.

In practice it is a lot different. You’ll see in the last post I added (below this one) I’ve given myself a few criteria to use to help me prescribe using the Triad Method, and I’ll use the method because I agreed to do so. Thus, it is possible to rationalise to oneself how to use the triad method. The most difficult thing I am finding in practice at the moment is working out which part of the prescription has worked.

My understanding of the practice of homoeopathy is that you don’t prescribe for separate parts of the case and this is what it feels like is being done here at the project. Having said that, I would feel more at ease with this prescribing method if we were prescribing only two remedies, one for the appropriate totality of symptoms and one nosode. The third remedy seems to me to be superfluous and I feel I’m prescribing it simply to cover bases. This is a scary thing to admit as people are coming to us for help and will surely expect us to know what we are doing.

The other source of confusion about this method is having a remedy for the ‘acute layer’. So far noone I have seen has presented with acute symptoms, either an acute exacerbation of a chronic condition or an opportunistic infection, acute miasm, etc. etc. so merely the name of this layer causes me confusion too.

As I’m sure you can see, I’m pretty confused about this but trying to deal with the confusion by using reflective practice and supervision. It helps me to think things through by writing them down and hopefully by the time I’m further through my stay here I’ll have resolved my questions about the method. I also hope that what I write is being read by other homoeopaths and I’m able to share my experience with them.

The major headache for me at present, after having taken the case and found a third remedy which I feel I can justify within the case is which part of the previous prescription has worked. Patrly this is due to summary sheets only having recently been introduced. 99% of cases have to be read through before the consultations and the key points of the case drawn together while doing this. This is quite a task as the notes are handwritten by several successive homoeopaths. You’ll see throughout the histories that some prescriptions work very well and the next prescription is changed for no apparent reason. Why? I think part of this is due to different practitioners from different backgrounds seeing different things in a case and responding the best way they can see. Another reasonn seems to be practitioners departing from the protocols that have been set by the project. Yet, I still ask myself, why wasn’t the last prescription which brought about a positive change for the patient repeated?

I’ll keep you all posted about how my understanding of the method and it’s application develops. I’m sure all the homoeopaths have been dying for me to actually get on to the subject of actually prescribing etc. The Triad Method is a little bit of a problem for me from the point of view of homoeopathic philosophy and here’s why. I’m classically trained so the basic prescribing method I am familiar with is one appropriate remedy, watch and wait. Whether prescribing for an acute or chronic case. Then repeat or change the remedy according to the response.

In the 6 months before I left for Botswana I’d been familiarising myself with Eizayager’s layers method and so when I was introduced to the Triad Method at my induction for the project it sounded like a reasonable way of going about things. In theory, that is.

In practice it is a lot different. You’ll see in the last post I added (below this one) I’ve given myself a few criteria to use to help me prescribe using the Triad Method, and I’ll use the method because I agreed to do so. Thus, it is possible to rationalise to oneself how to use the triad method. The most difficult thing I am finding in practice at the moment is working out which part of the prescription has worked.

My understanding of the practice of homoeopathy is that you don’t prescribe for separate parts of the case and this is what it feels like is being done here at the project. Having said that, I would feel more at ease with this prescribing method if we were prescribing only two remedies, one for the appropriate totality of symptoms and one nosode. The third remedy seems to me to be superfluous and I feel I’m prescribing it simply to cover bases. This is a scary thing to admit as people are coming to us for help and will surely expect us to know what we are doing.

The other source of confusion about this method is having a remedy for the ‘acute layer’. So far noone I have seen has presented with acute symptoms, either an acute exacerbation of a chronic condition or an opportunistic infection, acute miasm, etc. etc. so merely the name of this layer causes me confusion too.

As I’m sure you can see, I’m pretty confused about this but trying to deal with the confusion by using reflective practice and supervision. It helps me to think things through by writing them down and hopefully by the time I’m further through my stay here I’ll have resolved my questions about the method. I also hope that what I write is being read by other homoeopaths and I’m able to share my experience with them.

The major headache for me at present, after having taken the case and found a third remedy which I feel I can justify within the case is which part of the previous prescription has worked. Patrly this is due to summary sheets only having recently been introduced. 99% of cases have to be read through before the consultations and the key points of the case drawn together while doing this. This is quite a task as the notes are handwritten by several successive homoeopaths. You’ll see throughout the histories that some prescriptions work very well and the next prescription is changed for no apparent reason. Why? I think part of this is due to different practitioners from different backgrounds seeing different things in a case and responding the best way they can see. Another reasonn seems to be practitioners departing from the protocols that have been set by the project. Yet, I still ask myself, why wasn’t the last prescription which brought about a positive change for the patient repeated?

I’ll keep you all posted about how my understanding of the method and it’s application develops. I’m sure all the homoeopaths have been dying for me to actually get on to the subject of actually prescribing etc.

On another tack altogether…It’s ten past nine on a cool June’s night. Julia has, within the last hour recovered from an energy sapping cold type thing, thanks to homoeopathy and Hilary-Coffee-Shop’s thoughtfully sending Julia some Butternut Squash Soup and Carrot Cake. Julia is blasting out tunes on the Lutheran Church’s guitar which she borrowed to restring. We’ve had I’ve Been A Miner For A Heart Of Gold, Lady Darbanvilles, the song which begins Ziggy Played Guitar, and several others that went in one ear and out the other while I was typing.
So, when the working day is done we get a good opportunity to relax and re-energise like good, hard thinking, hard working, reflective homoeopaths should.

Hippo Epilogue

2007-06-26T11:34:00.000Z

There is an epilogue to the tale of the Hippo's standing beside the path on Monday evening. This morning I decided to walk into town (26/06/07). Who do you think I should meet in exactly the same spot but the hippo's again. Today it didn't cross my mind to retrace my steps to the small makorro and cross to the Sedia bank, walk up to Big Tree and get a combie into town. I just decided it was time to explore a bush path arouind the hippos.

Sorry folks, I've just realised that I have been putting an apostrophe on hippo when writing about hippopotami. That must have been so annoying for you. Shaln't do it again.

So, I slowly veered left onto the soft sand and into the thorny protection of the bush. Taking one very carful twig avoiding pace at a time I proceeded towards but awat from the hippos. As I drew level with them voices on the opposite bank began to bid me HELLO & GOOD MORNING at the tops of their lungs. It was the soldiers from the Barracks on the opposite bank at the end of their pier shouting encouragement (wether to me or the hippos I'm not sure, I reckon watching someone getting chased through the thorny bush by a playful and curious hippo would be a nice diversion fro barrack-room monotony).

The fact that I am writing from Riley's and not Maun General Hospital wildlife maimings ward this is eveidence that the hippos had had a heavy breakfast and were in no mood for play as I gently made my way past them.

Work Experience

2007-06-26T10:37:00.000Z

Where am I now?

I'm still in Maun, of course. I'm just beginning my third week here and I've just begun taking cases on my own. Last week I was alternating with Julia. Having her there to discuss case analysis and remedies with me made things a lot easier, it felt a lot less pressurised than thinking alone.

Since I arrived we've been working at a reasonable pace and our days have been varied for one reason or another. As you'll see from the photo's, last Monday we were invited to Boseja Kgotla to explain what the project is about. Usually we are at the Lutheran Church Clinic on a Monday from 0800 - 1600 with an hour for lunch. That afternoon we could go home early as noone had come to clinic that afternoon.

Tuesday's we're at WoMen Against in the morning and seeing private patients in the afternoon. That's a very different kettle of fish altogether as we do not have to use the Maun Homoeopathy project triad method. You'll have read about that in the post above this. I'm going to try and fix it so that My postings run chronologically from oldest at the top to most recent at the bottom. It doesn't make sense, the way it is now.

Wenesdays we do home Visits for Lutheran Church Clinic Patients and Thursday's were back at the Lutheran Church Clinic all day. Friday is always varied as we go on a thrice weekly rotation to Boseja Kgotla Clinic, Maun Conselling Clinic or Sennonori, which is run by the woman who comes each week to sweep our yard and do our washing. A good example of the blurred boundaries we are always warned about!

Tell Us About The Triad

OK. The triad ought to be fairly easy for most homoeopaths to understand as it seems to be based on Eizayagers 'Layers Method'. However, rather than treating each layer of the case sepparately we prescribe concurrently. At present i'm not quite sure of how the Triad came to be used. I feel a bit of an idiot because of that. Why didn't I bother asking? Hmmm.

So, I'll tell you about what I know about the triad method so far and what my experience is of it, so far. My opinions are bound to change as I have only been here two weeks so far (today is Tuesady 26th of June) and I have not been in touch with Hilary to get an idea of how the method developed. Anyone reading this from top to botom will read my most recent insights first.

The Triad Layers

The Triad Layers are - 1) Acute; 2) Constitutional; 3) Miasmatic.

At present I'm finding this method a little unwieldy, mainly because very few people we see have acute illnesses, their symptoms are long standing. Because of this I could understand prescribing a remedy for the chronic illness and another for the miasm but having to work in a third seems to me to be a bit of a contrivance.

But, we have to prescribe this way as Hilary wants to see the results of long term Triad prescribing. Things probably wouldn't be so rigid but for characters like me turning up and saying 'I'm not prescribing like that!' and doing their own thing. Luckily for the project I am not in a rebellious mood and I am happy to follow the protocol and see where it takes me

So that I feel happpy using the Triad method I've worked out a few ways of justifying to myself why 3 remedies are being prescribed.

My idea of how to Prescribe for "Acute" Layer = 1) remedy for totality of an acute miasm or exacerbation of chronic disease; 2, As a support for acute mental emotional states if Px has chronic symptoms.

Constitutional Layer: Patterns of Health / Ill Health & Menatal Emotional Reactions.

Miasm: Can an appropriate miasmatic link be made between acute and chronic symptoms? Which miasm is most obvious in the case?

And it feels even better prescribing this way if the remedies used can be related. Still, at present I'd feel less of a headache using just one or two remedies at a time.

One Week In Maun

2007-06-17T12:02:00.000Z

I've been in Maun for exactly one week now. It's Sunday afternoon and I've walkwd into town. It takes about 45 minutes along the main road. It's a nice walk, Sedia road is lined with compounds and big spreading trees, it has a good atmosphere, even at midday.

Mad Dogs And Englishmen

Today is Sunday. We've got the whole day to ourselves. I actually had a lie in until 8.30 this morning but I got out of bed as i didn't want to waste my day off. Last night I walked back into town along Sedia road in the evening light as busineses were beginning to close down and the Sedia road bars began to warm up.

It was 11.45 when I finally left our compound and walked back, out across the dry Thalakwe river bed which runs behind the compound. I was also scouting to see whether our backie (pick up truck) would cope with crossing the river bed and negotiating the sandy banks leading up to Big Tree combi stop on the Sedia road.

What's Sedia Road?

Sedia road is the long straight roadwhich runs west out of Maun, roughly parallel to the river. If we could cross the river on our backie and get onto Sedia road we'd avoid a really dusty circuitous route in the mornings and evenings.

As I said, the road is tree lined in the typically African widely spaced way. On either sides are home compounds often with a little business attached. This seems to be the metal workers quarter as there are about 3 aluminium and tin workers, an equal number of welders & at least 2 mechanics that's in the 45 minute walk between big tree and new mall. There's a couple of bars, at least four so it makes for a varied lanscape. I was hoping I'd be able to upload my phot's of Sedia road today but someone seems to have removed Microsoft publisher from this computer so i can't save my photo's a small file which is easy to upload. There's also the airport. Running parallel to the north of Sedia road is Maun airport.

My Week

Tuesday we went to WAR (WoMen Against Rape). As I'm sure you'll understand I didn't see many of the patients there but I had a chance to see how the place was set up and feel it's atmosphere. It was actually quite familiar. It had the same atmosphere as many of the projects i'd worked with in London when I was with the Tuffnell Park NHS. So, I feel comfortable working there.

Private Clinic

Tuesday afternoon we have a private clinic in the Okavango Pharmacy in the centre of town. This didn't happen because most of our patients for that day were ex-pats and they were tied up with organising the charity event at the Sports Bar, which is also on Sedia Road.

Sports Bar Royal Variety Charity Show

So, Tuesday we got to go home early. This worked out well for Julia an I as we had to get home file things and such, have a bite to eat and get washed and changed for the evenings entertainment. Tickets were 180 Pula each which works out as roughly 18 Pounds! And this went to charity.

As an incentive a 'bottemless pot' of soup was offered and it was very welcome as it was a cool desert night. All of Maun society were there, whether Batswana or Ex-Pat. Marty, our land-lady who we wnt with told us that she'd introduce us only to the people worth knowing . That ammounted to two people and I only remember one of them as he was Hilary's husband.

So there we are sitting under a ceiling of coloured cloth a good 15 or 20 feet above our heads, facing a stage surrounded by swags of red velvet in the true theatrical style. With real working curtains.

One of the most curious things about the performance was the inter act words given by the comperes. The man an urbane character built along the lines of 'The Great Suprendo' but with less hair and his partner a spiky Afrikaans vrau who seemed to have forgotten that she was no longer in front of a class of children, who kept telling the children in the front row to keep quiet. She ended up getting a well earned booo!

So, their inter act commentary, as well as containing the usual jokes at the audiences expense gave a slightly over detailed explaination of what we were about to witness. On reflection this was possibly for thwe benefit of the Batswana members of the audience, a gesture of courtsesy perhaps, except the explaination wasn't given in Setswana. The take home message is, before each act there was about 5 minutes at least of detailed explaination giving the history of the piece and a little about those who first performed it. That struck me as an interesting way to go about things.

They don't know when to stop

Just when it looked as though the last act had been seen there came another. I was sitting there thinking, people who are capabe of this are capable of anything. Everyone really pot their hearts into what they were doing. Even the poor guys who had to entertain us during really long scene changes and had to resort to singing a rude children's rhyme about a farmer in a field sitting on a rock whith his hands in his pocket playing with his keys etc, etc, you know the sort of thing, to get a laugh.

What was your first day at work like?

2007-06-11T12:35:00.000Z

It began early at 6 o'clock and it felt earlier as it was still dark. Luckily it was probably the warmest morning Maun hashad for a few weeks, otherwise it would have been freezing.

Weha to be up early as Hilary, who set up the projct 5 years ago, was flying home and was giving a talk to the district health workers about the role of the project at 07.30! We drove through the scrubby brush jungle from our cottage on the bank of the river as the sun wa rising.

As it was my first day I was sitting in with Julia who has worked on the project before.About half the patients we saw needed an interpreter. This was a new and interesting experience for me but I didn't feel it detracted from the quality of the consultation. The rapport is built up between the patient and practitioner. The interpreter passes information betwen them. Of course, the interpreters have been trained not to rephrase what patients say or colour the information they relay with their own opinion. Altogether, I think this system works well.

This was only my first day and I'm going totell you more about what it's like to run a consultation through an interpreter but I was favourably impressed. I don't know what anyone else was tinkng but I recall that while I was studying I was getting theimpresion that the consultation room is a very fragile and sacred space and he slightest 'bad vibe' could upset the whole dynamic of the relationship between patient and practitioner.

It is and it isn't. The consultation and consulting rooms, likepatients are individual, fragile and sacred things which must be approached with humility and the right intention. At the same time, like people they are flexible, adaptable and resilient.

The consultation is made up of two components, patient and practitionr, 3 in Maun if you include an interpreter. When these components are comfortable in the space, wherever it's location, whatever it's shape or size the cosultation will work. Do all the components feel happy? Do they agree to be in the space? Do they know what's going to happen? Yes? OK, carry on, it will work. That's the key.

I'll tell you more about my discoveries in my next thrilling installment of 123 Homoeopathy!

Maun Sounds Like A Fun Place To Be / मौन सौन्ड्स लिके आ फुं प्लेस तो बे

2007-06-10T11:33:00.001Z

Drums thundered and waists shook as feet stomped the ground in dance at the freedom square in Sedie, Maun, over the weekend। The dust rose up in the air as a means of appeasing the Mbungu Wa Kathimana ancient gods to welcome and cleanse Botswana National Front (BNF) leader Otsweletse Moupo and his party from the misfortunes that are threatening to tear it apart.
And believe it or not, the cultural cleansing rites seem to have worked, as the sky suddenly turned cloudy and the soft breeze cooled the hot weather.

I found these on Mmengi Online. Mmegi is published by Dikgang Publishing Company (DPC). The newspaper was established in 1984. Mmegi is the only daily independent newspaper in Botswana. The newspaper is read by a cross-section of the population including students, policy makers, intellectuals and the business community. Over the past 10 years Mmegi won the prestigious Institute of Bankers “Newspaper of the year Award” nine times.

Bats terrorise Maun Civil Servants

NOMSA NDLOVU

CORRESPONDENT MAUN:

An invasion by an army of bats has chased civil servants in Komane village, 26km west of Maun, out of their houses to seek accommodation elsewhere. Councillor Morolong Mosimanyane of Komane ward brought the matter to the attention of the Minister of Environment, Wildlife and Tourism Kitso Mokaila last week and said the bats have been terrorising the village since 2004.
He said that the bats use ceilings as their abode and the most affected houses are those of the teachers, nurses, and local police officers. Morolong told Mokaila that wildlife officers should be sent to deal with the bats. He said if wildlife officers had not prevented them, the residents would have long used other means to wipe out the animals.
"When we reported the matter, your officers instructed that we should not kill the creatures because they are a protected species. They said the only thing we should do is to remove them and patch the ceiling, but we tried and failed. Therefore I request you to send your officers to remove them from our area because we are tired of the anguish that they are causing us," he said.
Morolong explained that the animals are inactive by day but at night they come out of their hiding places and trouble residents. Their noises prevent the civil servants and their families from sleeping and cause panic. The occupants of the houses were then forced to move out and seek accommodation elsewhere. The problem affects most villagers with modern houses.
Morolong told Mmegi that besides the noises, the bats defecate and urinate constantly, causing a pungent smell and resistant stains on clothes, walls and the ceiling.

What's Maun Like? / वहत इस मौन लिके?

2007-06-10T09:37:00.000Z

What's Maun like? Widely spaced and dusty. But I can see that there is a lot to explore. I saw my first Boabab trees from the road about 50k outside of town. That made me feel as though I was nearing journeys end. the countryside is broad and flat. There are small settlements dotted around with compounds of thatthced rond-houses and square rond houses also thatthed and more modern style houses. Cows, donkeys and goats occasionally break the monotony of a long straight highway by crossing it, making the bus perform a loooooong slooow down which precipitates a flash flood of shoes bottles and small luggage forward beneath the seats.

I arrived in Maun yesterday evening. We passed the school on theway in. Lads appeared to be playing rugby on a dustbowl of a pitch. There was a big crowd of spectators and the teams wore blue and green. I imagined anyone on that pitch would beabout 2kg heavier when they finnished from all the dust theye'd swallow and breathe in.

I notice sign posts directing me to places that I had heard of from my induction in London. Now I am here I really see how spread out maun is. I'll try and have some images for you next time i write. I'll also be able to tell you about my first day at work.

Stay tuned!

First Day In Maun / फर्स्ट दय इन मौन

2007-06-10T09:01:00.000Z

I've just arrived in Maun. I spent my first night in Botswana at the splendid Boiketlo Lodge in Gaborone. It's really well placed opposite the Bank and Telecom ofices. There's a driving school 'office' under a tree outside the back gate which faces the Telecom & Bank. The driving school itself consists of an obstacle course of orange cones on a patch ofground beside the road a little further along. A man was entertaining the instructiors singing to a guitar. This was another good introduction to Botswana.

Mr. Moipolai says that Lonely Planet has got it wrong about his guest house. They describe it as 'noisy' apparently. He wasn't happy about that. The edition I read quite rated the place, which is why I chose it. It's certainly not noisy. So any of you with an old edition of Lonely Planet which describes Boiketlo Lodge as noisy, you'd better update it and say that it is clean, well appointed and quiet with a delicate perfume of woodsmoke on the evening air.

Mr Moipolai says that LP perhaps mistook the natural exuberance of Motswana for irritating noise. We are jolly people, we always greet, domella ma! Domella rra! You will see it when you get the bus, we are always greeting.

I was looking forward to a bit of this as things had been pretty quiet I thought. Everyone on the Mainliner kept themselves to themselves and everyone I'd seen in Gabborone deported themselves with the utmost decorum.

This changed I am happy to say, when I reached the bus station. It was as bright, noisy, ramshackle and full of human life as I had expected.Busses heave in and out, their touts roam the area shouting their destinations. People laden with great tarten laundry bags of luggage surge back and forth, with politeness and decorum. Vendors hawk fruit, mouth watering packets of chicken and chips made by Hungry Lion & Cicken Licken, chicken pies by Pie Perfect, Cold water, frozen into ice, Iron Brew, sweeties in buckets, wallets, passport covers & pocket-books, The Voice, The Botswana Guardian, pencils, plastic doccument wallets, air time for mobile phones.

The bus slowly fills up with passengers and vendors pass on and off like salts through a cell.There's always space to squeeze by and everything passes off with the utmost tact and decorum. There's some banter between passengers and vendors but everyone kepps themselves to themselves and are decorous.

Dr. Scientist

As we pull out of the bus station we pass more vendors stalls and food spots. Then, at one corner I see a crowd of people cathered round a larger shack. Inside is a sound system beside which sits a man with a really curious peice of woodwork in his hands.

It looks as though he is holding an instrument madefrom planks and 2 by four, held together with bolts. He's advertised as Dr. Scientist. There's a pile of compact discs on the sound system and a hand printed T shirt swings above them. He's tuning up to play that gorgeous rippling African guitar music. Notes and phases sparkle out and hit you in the heart. I'm straining my ears backwards as we pass away listening to the stretche d notes through the doppler effect. Resolved: I will track down and buy a copy of Dr. Scientist's CD when i return to Gaborone.

Intercape Mainliner / इंटर-कापे Mainliner

2007-06-10T08:44:00.000Z

I am not eaten by Werewolves and survive my encounter with the hostile world beyond the bus-station.I observe closely what Jo'burg looks like as we pull out of the bus station on the Intercape Mainliner bound for Gaborone, 6 hours away.

We pass through streets lined with smart, low-rise, 1950's style office buildings and more modern standard concrete buildings. The streets are wide low valleys and have a nice mountainous feel to them, one side of the street in freezing shade, one side in bright sunlight. The place has a sunday feel to it, very few people on the streets. There's a lazy mellow atmosphere. I nod off for about three hours and when I wake up we're out in the country in the magical 2 hours before sunset.

The green, red and yellow landscape becomes more subtly coloured and reflects the delicate sunset colours in the sky. Along the way are scrubby spiny kops which smoulder in misty smokey reds, oranges and purple. I really want to be out there, just for an hour or so, to take a walk into the mysterious scrub and over to one of the kops, that would be a nice introduction to the country. Brew up some tea on a tiny wood fire and enjoy the smell of dusty earth, saps and woodsmoke as night falls. Resolved: I will do this as soon as I can when I reach Maun.

Ice Cold In Johannesburg / Ice Cold In Johannesburg

2007-06-07T10:49:00.000Z

Ice कोल्ड इन जोहानसबर्ग / Ice cold In Johannesburg

I'm finally in Africa. I managed not to sleep on the 9 hour flight from London andnow I'm floating and goggling in the freezing mall that is Jo'burg park bus station. Please excuse my typing as i a musing an unfamiliar keyboard.

A Crisp Clear Day In Johannesburg

I did not have time to feel how cold it was between the airport and the bus station. But the day had the appearance of a crisp clear winters morning at home. The slanting morning sunlight created a beautiful contrast of light and shade breaking the streets up into a patchwork of darkness and vibrant colour.

Here in the bus station it is absolutley arctic. But incredibly clean. More clean than any public concourse you would see at home. And everyone is very polite and courteous. People tend to leave you to your own devices unless you are about to go seriously astray or you ask for help.

I took a taxi from the airport because the driver followed me out to make sure I didn't wander off looking for a bus from the Airport. He made sure to impress upon me the foolhardiness of my actions due to the presence of theives. A speech I considered to be standard for fleecing unwary new arrivals who would be made all the more willing to take a cab. The poor driver had to follow me back into the airport while I made enquiries about the non existence of a bus service to the centre of town.

So I took a cab with Tabby who explained to me that because SA was so developed undesirables from all over Africa were pouring in to take advantage. Hedropped me at the bus ststion and insisted on taking meto the ticket office for the long distance bus to Gaborone.

I'd encountered this kind of special attention before in other countries and this process ensures that whowever introduces you to the ticket clerk gets a cut of the (inflated) cost of the ticket you buy.Ok, I thought, we'll see what happens.

Not so here in SA, this escort from the carpark to the ticket counter was for my own protection. I buy the ticket and we part as friends, his warning ringing in my ears 'Don'tleave the bus station'.

Why is the bus station so cold?

johannesburg bus station is a long high ceilinged basillica of a place. Very little direct sunlight gets in. It is antiseptically cold inside and cleaner than a hospital. It is as high as the concourse of St. Pancras or Paddington stations in London.

As I wandered around getting my bearings and adding layers ofclothes (so that now I am dressed for a winters day). It is so cold in here I feel that there is a cood chance I will see the steam of my breath. I recall that I had frequently seen, in photo's of Africa everyone going round in wooly hats and jumpers. I had always reasoned that this was because they maust have been taken in the very early morning. As it turns out it is cold enough to go dressed like this all day.

Anyone I met reminded me 'don'tleave the bus station'.I stood at the entrance and looked out.It didn'tlook so bad. There was a vendor selling food from a braai, a clothes stall which would not have been out of place on peticoat lane and men hawking brooms and ostrich feather dusters. It didn't look so bad.

Sunlight Oasis

I would really love to go outside and have a look round, smell the new smells, listen to the new sounds and soak up the new sights, as satisfying as any meal to a traveller who has arrived. But I'm feeling a bit disembodied at the moment. Not as bad as I could feel, thanks to Arnica & Cocculus which help one's body to get over the drag of long distance travel. But, still, I feel a bit wierd. I debate whether to step outside and mooch around and have an adventure running on the equivalent of drunkards luck, but I've just arrived and I decide to take things easy.

I notice the bus station has a Wimpy, a Milky Lane and a Nando's. I go up to the mezzanine and pass the Leopard Spot fast food outlet at which I sample an unadventurous egg and chips. On the mezzanine is an exit and I look through it to see an oasis of sunlight. There are planters with greenery and a fish pond around which children are playing, their parents sitting with their luggage. There are men with suits and name tags standing in groups chatting and best of all it is in full sunlight.

It could not have looked less like the haunt of thieves and cut-throats, so throwing caution to the wind I stepped out to indulge my saurian nature and absorb some cool, crisp, crystal clear African winters sunlight.

मौन होमोपति प्रोजेक्ट सलेब्रतेस इत's फर्स्ट येअर / Maun Homeopathy Project Celebrates Its First Year

2007-06-02T00:18:00.000Z

Here's some more information sourced from the Maun Homeopathy Project Website.

Celebrating Our First Year

We have just celebrated our first full year of running the homeopathy clinics in Maun. “The homeopathy has changed peoples’ lives” says Stella, co-ordinator of our biggest clinic at the Lutheran Church.
The clinics have been made possible by 3 key factors: the generosity of individual donors; the time, hard work and commitment given by volunteer homeopaths; and the strong and warm partnership we have developed with local agencies in Maun. Arun Mushiana, Volunteer Homeopath, says “The homeopaths are so loved here, and at the clinics we see daily miracles.” Word has spread and people living with HIV and AIDS travel from all over Botswana to get treatment from us. It is not unusual to hear from a client that they have arrived the day before from their village 500km away to join the early morning queue at one of our clinics.

Volunteering in Maun:The Homeopaths’ Stories

“It’s hot, hard work and there’s so much suffering but volunteering in Maun is the most important thing I’ve done in my life,” Julia Hunn.Ten volunteer homeopaths so far have donated their time, energy and money to run the clinics in Maun over the last year taking unpaid leave to do so. Our heartfelt thanks goes to them - Margaret Ecclestone, Noam Bar, Lesley Murphy, Julia Hunn, Jane Harter, Cleo Cameron, Arun Mushiana, Elaine Weatherley-Jones, Penny Rowe and Bridget Allison.

Lesley Murphy tells the story of one lady: “She is HIV+ and I was asked to go and see her as she'd been struggling with possible malaria for 10 days. I did a home visit, and found her on a mattress on the floor, covering her eyes, as she couldn't cope with light, barely able to speak as she was so weak, and she hadn't been able to eat for a long while. I prescribed a course of homeopathic medicine for her and the next day her family took her to hospital where the doctor also thought it was malaria, but she was starting to improve so wasn’t given any treatment there. The following day when I visited, she was outdoors, eating an apple, and playing with her grandson, completely recovered!”

“One of the most outstanding memories I have of the people that I met and treated in Botswana is of how much they appreciated the service, feeling valued as people, not treated as HIV patients. One comment overheard in the waiting room (where people would wait patiently all day) was “how lucky we are to have this service in Maun - I was in Francistown and people with HIV there feel outside of society, but here in Maun we feel accepted and valued”. Elaine Weatherley-Jones

Statistics and Information - HIV, Rape and Bereavement in Botswana (From The Maun Homeopathy Project Website)

2007-05-31T00:27:00.000Z

Statistics and InformationHIV, Rape and Bereavement in Botswana

HIV: A National Crisis

Botswana has one of the highest rates of HIV infection in the world: over 35% of people are infected in a population of 1.75 million.

Although economically successful, Botswana has a high proportion of its population living in poverty.

Despite increasing urbanisation the majority of the population still lives in the rural areas and there is high mobility whereby individuals and their families move within or outside the country for work or to move between the cattle post, the village home and the town.

In 2005 there were 380,000 adults and children living with HIV. An estimated 120,000 children in Botswana have lost at least one parent to the epidemic and life expectancy at birth is now 40 years.

(Ref: WHO 2006 Report on the global AIDS epidemic)

Rape: The Unseen Picture
There are high levels of sexual violence in Botswana (and in Southern Africa as a whole) with teenage girls and younger women particularly at risk.

Girls and women who have been sexually assaulted are at increased risk of HIV infection through direct transmission and because of the long-term effects of sexual violence on risk-taking behaviour.

Contrary to conventional notions women are more likely to be raped by an intimate partner, spouse or someone they know than by a stranger. The abuse often continues over a relatively long period of time.

Because women are often the first to test for HIV through ante-natal services they are often blamed for bringing HIV into the family or community and this blame can easily turn to violence.(Ref: “Facing the Future Together” Report of the United Nations Secretary General’s Task Force on Women, Girls and HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa).

Bereavement & Stigma: Daily Devastating Effects

Multiple bereavement, through the high incidence and death rate from HIV and AIDS, is a devastating fact of life in Botswana. Most families have been affected by at least one death and this has economic as well as emotional consequences such as poverty, despair and anxiety.
Another consequence is that surviving adults, usually women, can be overburdened with the care of others while lacking financial or emotional support.

The overall picture in Botswana in general and in Maun in particular is one of a community in crisis composed of individuals dealing with the daily devastating effects of trauma from HIV diagnosis, living with HIV, the consequences of rape, the overburden of care for others and the social isolation from stigma that is often the result of HIV and rape.

Maun Homeopathy Project

2007-05-31T00:11:00.000Z

It's about time I told you something about the Maun Homeopathy Project. I've cut and pasted this from the MHP website to give you an idea of what the MHP is about. I'll tell you more from my experience once the adventures of Rowland in Africa have truly begun.

At present I'm Rowland in London, gradually folding and filing the garments and articles of my existence here before I pack my bags and go. I'll tell you more about how I came to join MHP in a future post. Until then here's the introductory page to MHP's website...

The Maun Homeopathy Project Healing for Strength and Survival

MHP is a registered charity (No. 1109958) founded by Hilary Fairclough and Philippa Brewster in 2002:

Establishing a permanent and free homeopathic service for women, men and children living with HIV and AIDS and/or traumatised by rape in Maun, Botswana
working in partnership with agencies in the local community
offering holistic care to people suffering from illness, trauma, grief and stigma
travelling light with a mobile clinic providing an outreach service for those most in need
to recruit and support local people to train in homeopathy to an internationally recognised standard

A Community in Crisis
Since 2002, The Maun Homeopathy Clinic has been running free homeopathy outreach clinics in Maun, a fast growing town in the north of Botswana, (click here to view map) where over 35% of the people are infected with HIV or AIDS, one of the highest rates in the world.

The epidemic has put this hitherto strong and confident democratic country into crisis and the Maun community like the rest of the country is suffering as a result. Everyone is affected and trying to cope with its daily devastating effects.

Maun is now the centre for the provision of medical and social care for people affected by HIV and traumatised by rape living in the town and its surrounding areas, but more help and other approaches are desperately needed.

Homeopathy fills the gap for a holistic approach to healing which is complementary to the existing and stretched medical and counselling services.Click Here for more on HIV and AIDS in Botswana

How can you help?
Make a regular donation by standing order; make a one off donation - Click to Donate now!Join our email list for news of fundraising events and for the MHP Newsletter - Contact Us

Our logo: The Baobab Tree
One of the great symbols of Africa, the Baobab Tree symbolises Strength, Survival and Longevity and all parts of the tree have nutritional and medicinal value.

Homoeopathy in the NHS

2007-05-30T23:10:00.000Z

If you've read my last post, The Story So Far, you will realise that the future of NHS provision of homoeopathy hangs in the balance. This letter from Dr Peter Fisher, the Clinical Director of The Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital was forwarded to me today. If you read this post please lend your support by encouraging your MP to call for an Early Day Motion.

Parliamentary Early Day Motion on Homeopathy in the NHS28/05/2007
The battle is reaching a critical phase with important PCTs about to take decisions and the renewed attack this week by Born, Baum Ernst and co.

Our Early day Motion is doing quite well: 117 signatures so far. See http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=33006&SESSION=885
it tells you who has signed and gives the full text of the EDM.

To get debate in the Commons we need 200 signatures.

Please check if your MP has signed at the website above. If s/he has not, please ask her/him to do so. The easiest way to do this is by email www.parliament.uk/directories/directories.cfm It tells you who your MP is if you don't know!

Suggested email text below

Subject: Please sign EDM 1240 in support of NHS Homoeopathic Hospitals

Dear xxx,

This is to ask you to sign Early Day Motion 1240 'NHS Homoeopathic Hospitals'. As you may know there are four NHS homoeopathic hospitals/specialist clinics in England (The Royal London, Bristol and Tunbridge Wells Homoeopathic Hospitals and the Liverpool Clinic). Despite their names, these units provide a range of complementary and alternative treatments, not just homeopathy, fully integrated into the NHS. They make an important contribution to the health of the nation and to patient choice, offering clinically-effective and cost-effective solutions to common health problems faced by NHS patients, including many chronic, difficult to treat conditions.

The homoeopathic hospitals are unique resources, highly valued by their patients, with a proud record of developing and providing safe, effective non-drug based treatments for common conditions. They have great potential to make further contributions, and to reduce the NHS's dependency on drug treatments.

The combined budget of these homoeopathic units is about £5m/year, a tiny proportion of the NHS budget. Yet in the current financial turbulence affecting the NHS their future is threatened by short-term, local, financially-driven decisions by PCTs.

I hope you will sign the EDM calling on the government to actively support these valuable national assets.

Yours Sincerely,
xxx

Thanks and best wishes
Peter
Dr Peter Fisher Clinical Director Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital Great Ormond Street London WC1N 3HR UK Tel (+44) (0) 20 7391 8890 (UCLH internal 18890) Fax 020 7391 8829 http://www.uclh.nhs.uk/rlhh

The story so far...

2007-05-29T22:15:00.000Z

As many of you reading this will already know homoeopathy is receiving a lot of bad press in the UK . Not only that, local health authorities are also making it more difficult for people to access homoeopathy through the NHS. This has led to demonstarations in the streets and questions being asked in parliament.

Below are some letters, articles and extracts from Hansard which I have been sent recently regarding the availability of homoepathy on the NHS in the UK. They make interseting reading.

Open letter to Brent Primary Care Trust (PCT)

Demand for immediate restoration of contract with Royal London Homeopathic Hospital (RLHH)

Andrew Parker
Chief Executive
Brent Primary Care Trust
116 Chaplin Road
Wembley, Middlesex
HA0 4UZ
8 March 2007, International Women’s Day

Dear Andrew Parker,

We the undersigned write to express our outrage at the abrupt termination of the contract between Brent Primary Care Trust (PCT) and the Royal London Homeopathic Hospital (RLHH). As patients, carers and other supporters of the hospital, many of us on low incomes (benefits, pensions or low wages), we demand the immediate restoration of this much-valued service to all Brent residents.

Founded in 1849, the RLHH is the oldest homeopathic hospital in the world. There are five homeopathic hospitals in the UK – Bristol, Glasgow, Liverpool, London and Milton Keynes. RLHH is the largest, treating around 2,000 patients per week. In addition to homeopathy, it offers acupuncture and other complementary therapies.

Brent PCT’s decision denies users access to established treatments which are effective and an alternative to conventional medicine, which is often invasive, toxic and expensive.
Many of us stopped conventional treatment in other hospitals after a bad experience and chose to go to the RLHH instead. We have found that it provides a better level of individual care, more sensitive and person-centred than other NHS facilities. As Brent NHS users, we do not want to lose access to the RLHH.

We now find ourselves abandoned in mid-treatment without warning, while others waiting to be seen have had their treatment cancelled, and others still who were counting on using the RLHH in the near future will no longer be able to do so.

Some of us have only just found out that we could have had homeopathic treatment on the NHS; we are angry that the PCT never informed us and we want this option available to us now.

We do not accept that there is insufficient evidence to validate the contract. On the contrary, there is plenty of evidence, not only of demand for homeopathy from NHS users and doctors but of its effectiveness.

1. The demand for Homeopathy on the NHS has increased.

· 43% of PCTs provide access to complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) either wholly or largely free, with acupuncture, chiropractic, homeopathy, osteopathy, therapeutic massage and nutritional therapy being the services most commonly provided.[i]
· The Patients’ Association has called for greater access to complementary medicine on the NHS.[ii]
· 70% of GPs think that some access to complementary medicine should be available on the NHS.[iii]
· One in four members of the public want to see complementary medicine on the NHS.[iv]
· A 2000 Law Lords report lists homeopathy as one of the ‘Big Five’ complementary and alternative therapies, and recommended a more integrated approach to medicine and healthcare with more access to such therapies on the NHS, not less.
· In 2005, 67% of individual GPS and 85% of practices in the Camden PCT area made referrals to RLHH, an increase of 29% over previous years.[v]
· Elsewhere access to complementary and alternative therapies on the NHS is being extended: pilot schemes are planned for Northern Ireland and Wales.
· In Scotland, the Glasgow Homeopathic Hospital has set a standard of patient-centered care of extraordinary beauty and therapeutic value which should be adopted by NHS hospitals everywhere.

We are constantly bombarded with claims that changes to the NHS are based on offering patients choice when in fact choice is constantly undermined. Homeopathy should be available not only to those who can afford to pay for it privately. To do so discriminates against people on low incomes, especially women and people of colour whose average income is lower than white men’s but who happen to be homeopathy’s most likely users.

We launch this letter on International Women’s Day because women are homeopathy’s main users and practitioners. As society’s main carers women provide, unwaged, more healthcare than all the health services of the world put together. We take responsibility for the health and well-being of loved ones – children, partners, parents, friends, neighbours and relatives – from the cradle to the grave, from breastfeeding and daily food provision to nursing and emotional support, often putting our own health last. Those of us with disabilities and long-term ill health are usually seen as the receivers of care, but we often also do caring work for others, especially children and partners. Most complementary and alternative practitioners – as most hospital and other healthcare staff – are also women.

As the key decision-makers on health matters in our families and communities, women want the best for those we care for. We deserve to be consulted, listened to and offered access to treatments which are safe, effective and holistic. PCT’s decision to terminate RLHH’s contract without any consultation, affects women most and is therefore sexist.

The decision dismisses the experiences and wishes of many Brent residents. It is not only women but people of colour[vi] who are more likely to use complementary and alternative therapies, particularly people of Asian descent since homeopathy is one of the main healthcare systems used in the Asian subcontinent. As Brent is one of the most ethnically diverse boroughs in the country with people of colour in the majority, according to the 2001 ONS Census, denying free access to homeopathy in the borough surely amounts to racist discrimination.

We also want to point out that access to complementary and alternative therapies has been shown to help overcome men’s acknowledged reluctance to address health issues.[vii] Why undermine a major provider of such therapies?

Homeopathy is effective.

Homeopathy’s reputation for effectiveness in this country was established beyond doubt during the cholera epidemic of the 1840s. 80% of affected people survived when treated with homeopathy compared to only 20% with conventional treatments.

Recent research confirms the effectiveness of homeopathy for a wide range of illnesses.

· A study commissioned by the Prince of Wales concluded that homeopathy improved conditions such as anxiety, stress and depression, and needed fewer follow up appointments.[viii] It also found that homeopathy could be relatively easily integrated into the NHS and would offer potentially significant cost savings..
· 45% of GPs consider homeopathy useful; 60% of the doctors who use it do so because they have found it effective and due to anxiety about the hazards of conventional treatment. [ix]
· Impact Integrated Medicine Project in Nottingham provided free treatment including homeopathy with funding from the New Deal for Communities (2004 to 2006). Impact’s 2006 Annual Report states that during this time, 87% of patients reported reducing or stopping prescribed medication; 76% saw their GP less, and some no longer required hospital treatment. Impact won the NHS Alliance Acorn Award in 2006, yet funding was not renewed. People can no longer self-refer, but GPs can refer. Demand for Impact’s service is still very high, and 85% of patients who completed a survey reported being very satisfied (www.impact-imp. co.uk).
· Bristol Homeopathic Hospital surveyed what happened to 6,500 patients over six years. 70% reported improvement in their symptoms and well being for conditions which had not responded to conventional treatment.[x]
· A review by an NHS Community Menopause/PMS clinic in Sheffield reports high levels of benefit in reducing menopausal symptoms as well as improved mood and quality of life following homeopathic treatment.[xi]
· RLHH offers care for people with mental health problems. The media recently highlighted the scarcity of services for people suffering from depression. Many doctors acknowledge that prescribing anti-depressants is over-used, often inappropriate and ineffective and has harmful side effects. RLHH users have been referred to alternative treatments which have helped them get off or reduce the use of anti-depressants.
· Waltham Forest PCT has successfully integrated homeopathy into a Mental Health Strategy. This work won the NHS Alliance Acorn Award in 2005.
· The Society of Homeopaths National Service Evaluation found 87% of patients with mental and emotional problems reported positive changes with homeopathy.
· Some of us are volunteers at the Crossroads Women’s Centre in Camden which runs a homeopathic clinic for destitute and low income women, often asylum seekers who have severe health problems as a result of rape and other torture. We have seen great improvements in their health despite their desperate situation.

Homeopathy is safe.

Homeopathy has no side effects or danger of addiction or toxicity. Pregnant women, children, young people and pets can all be treated successfully with it.

Drug based treatment however can lead to effects worse than the original problem. Medical decisions have been found to be the third leading cause of death, and prescribed pharmaceutical drugs are the fourth leading cause of death.[xii] The House of Commons Health Committee highlighted the disadvantages of the increasing use of and reliance on pharmaceutical medicines: “The inappropriate or excessive use … can cause distress, ill-health, hospitalisation and even death.”[xiii]

Homeopathy is cost effective.

Increased use of homeopathy could lead to large benefits and savings to the NHS.

· One homeopathic prescription can cost as little as 16p. Compare that to the £7bn+ the NHS spends each year on conventional drugs.[xiv] The need for many of these drugs is reduced or avoided by homeopathy. Cutting access to the RLHH will cost the NHS more, not less.
· Homeopathy helps prevent ill health. Aside from avoiding side effects and drug dependency which then require further expensive treatments, it can prevent complications associated, for example, with childhood illnesses or childbirth.
· A pilot study showed that doctors practicing homeopathic medicine issue fewer prescriptions and at lower cost than their non homeopathic colleagues.[xv]
· Every £1 spent on promoting health in the workplace can lead to a saving of £2.50 for employers.[xvi] What would the savings if preventative healthcare, such as homeopathy, was promoted in Brent and nationally?
· Despite this cost-effectiveness, NHS investment in complementary medicine is just 0.5% of the NHS budget.
· Most private health companies and many insurance policies consider homeopathic treatment a good investment.[xvii] Why not Brent PCT?

Why is the RLHH under attack?

Why is a therapy which causes no harm constantly under attack when conventional drug treatment which has such a lethal record is not? Most people are aware that the pharmaceutical industry – one of the biggest in the world with the oil and arms industries, with sales of 643 billion dollars of which 17% (109.31 billion dollars) is profit – increasingly dictates the priorities of the NHS. With such massive profits at stake, the pharmaceutical industry has tried to discredit any form of treatment which present an alternative, and therefore poses a threat, to its hegemony. It has tried to discredit homeopathy and GPs who use it by employing ‘Quackbusters’ , many of whom have been exposed as professional litigators with almost no knowledge or experience of the therapies they are paid to attack (www.quackpotwatch. org).

The decision to terminate the contract with the RLHH has nothing to do with health and everything to do with the pharmaceutical industry.

The RLHH belongs to us all.

The Royal Family chooses homeopathy over other forms of healthcare, and people on high incomes who can afford the best increasingly do so. But those of us on low incomes are denied access and have to struggle to pay for what we also consider the best. According to the Society of Homeopaths, the private market for homeopathy is growing at around 20% per year, making it one of the fastest growth sectors in the UK today. Why isn’t this demand reflected in NHS provision?

The RLHH has recently been renovated largely by donations from patients. The legality of denying Brent patients access to a service which they have paid for through National Insurance contributions and donations is being looked into by the British Homeopathic Association.

While the government spends billions on war in Iraq and Afghanistan – bombing, killing, maiming and torturing innocent people against the wishes of the majority of the UK population – it is simultaneously cutting and privatising access to essential holistic, low cost, popular and effective healthcare services such as the RLHH. Instead of cutting access, more patients must be made aware of this service and Brent GPs must be encouraged to refer more people to the RLHH as well as to other registered homeopaths.

The RLHH has always been part of the NHS. This principle of free access to all must remain. We don’t want the RLHH to be only for the Royals!

Signed:

Jenny Hautman (Student homeopath & cancer fighter) and Brent residents:
Niki Adams, Michael Coleman, Cristel Amiss, Sara Callaway, Kay Chapman, Sian Evans, Solveig Francis Giorgio Giandomenici, Selma James, Lisa Longstaff, Nina Lopez, Cari Mitchell, Anne Neale, Sylvia Salley, Anna Thorburn,

Reply to: Solveig Francis c/o Women in Dialogue, PO Box 287, London NW6 5QU
solveig@crossroadsw omen.net

Copy to:
Prince of Wales
The Queen
Sarah Teather MP, Lib Dem, Brent East
Barry Gardiner MP, Labour, Brent North
Dawn Butler MP, Labour, Brent South
Brent Health Select Committee
Local Brent Councillors
Patient Advice and Liaison Service
Healthcare Commission Complaints Investigation Team
The Health Service Ombudsman
Valerie Lawler, Royal London Homeopathic Hospital
[i]. Clinical Governance for Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Primary Care, Final Report to the Department of Health and the King’s Fund, University of Westminster, 2004
[ii] BBC News Online 16 August 2005
[iii] GP magazine, November 2004
[iv] Which? Survey 2003
[v] Alliance for Natural Health, February 2007
[vi] Impact Integrated Medicine Project in Nottingham, Annual Report 2006: 48% of our patients are from Black and Minority Ethnic groups, in an area where the BME population overall is 28%. Interpreters are provided for all patients who do not speak English, so we have been able to work with asylum seekers and refugees, all of whom are dealing with physical and psychological trauma (www.impact- imp.co.uk) .
[vii] Impact Integrated Medicine Project in Nottingham, Annual Report 2006: 38% of our patients are men. As Roger Williams, Nottingham City PCT comments, “You know it’s working when 38% of your patients are men. Men don’t normally get too bothered about their health, but with this they turn out. The feedback has been very good indeed and there are people using Impact who would not usually access the normal service. It’s extremely impressive.” Communities Today magazine, February 2005
[viii] The Role of Complementary and Alternative Medicine in the NHS led by Christopher Smallwood, October 2005
[ix] Dr Magazine, Society of Homeopaths website
[x] Drs David Spence, Elizabeth Thompson and SJ Barron, October 2005, Homeopathic Treatment for Chronic Disease: A 6 year university hospital outpatient observational study, The Journal of Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Vol 11 No 5, 793 -798.
[xi] Relton C, Weatherley-Jones E, May 2005, “Homeopathy service in a National Health Service community menopause clinic: audit of clinical outcomes” in Journal of the British Menopause Society
[xii] Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol 284, July 26, 2000
[xiii] The Influence of the Pharmaceutical Industry, 2005.
[xiv] BBC News 24, 19 February 2007.
[xv] Swayne, Jeremy, 1992, “The cost and effectiveness of homeopathy” in the British Homeopathic Journal Vol 81, pages 148-150.
[xvi] http://www.impact- imp.co.uk
[xvii] Society of Homeopaths

Response from Faculty of Homeopathy to articles in Nature22-03-2007, 11:22 am
The Faculty of Homeopathy, the professional body for doctors who practise homeopathy, disagrees strongly with the assertion that homeopathy is unscientific. There is growing evidence for its clinical effectiveness though more research needs to be done. Universities are just the places to lead this work.

It is untrue that "the evidence against homeopathy is conclusive". On the contrary, despite a lack of funding and research infrastructure for CAM, there are 50 positive (and very few negative) peer-reviewed placebo-controlled trials of homeopathy (1). Most systematic reviews and meta-analyses are positive - this includes comprehensive reviews and those focussed on specific conditions including influenza, arthritis and allergies. "This is far too large a body of evidence to dismiss and warrants further investigation in an open-minded, unbiased spirit of proper scientific enquiry," comments Dr Peter Fisher, spokesman for the Faculty of Homeopathy.

There is also an increasing amount of laboratory research that extends our understanding of how ultra-high dilutions work and shows that homeopathic medicines can exert biological effects (2, 3).

"Patients clearly benefit from homeopathy and doctors, like me, who practise it alongside conventional medicine would not do so if they did not see it working, adds Dr Fisher. "What we urgently need is a more balanced and evidence-based debate, free of the sort of rhetoric coming from Professor Colquhoun and others like him, and proper funding for more well-designed and appropriate research."

1 Full references available on request
2 Belon P, Camps J, Ennis M, et al. (2004).Histamine dilutions modulate basophil activation. Inflammation Research, 53: 181-8
3 Rey L (2003). Thermoluminescence of ultra-high dilutions of lithium chloride and sodium chloride. Phsyica (A). 323: 67-74

> NEWS RELEASE 22nd March 2007> >
"SCIENCE DEGREES WITHOUT THE SCIENCE"> >

The Society of Homeopaths, the UK's largest register of professional homeopaths, supports the conferment of science degrees on graduates of homeopathy courses, strongly refuting the assertion by Professor David Colquhoun in 'Nature' (Vol> 446/22 March 2007) that homeopathy is "anti-science. "

In fact there is considerable evidence demonstrating the clinical effectiveness of homeopathic treatment, including a large outcomes study published in 2005, of an analysis of over 23,000 outpatient consultations at the Bristol Homeopathic Hospital,in which more than 70% reported clinical improvement. (1)

Chief Executive, Paula Ross comments "Colquhoun's attempt to pitch science against what he unhelpfully terms "anti-science" is typical of the sort of reductionist approach that would have science focus only on the known whilst ignoring the presently unknown. What he conveniently chooses to overlook is the fact that homeopathy is a growth area, with thousands of people seeing a practitioner and in excess of £25 million pounds being spent on homeopathy each year. Surely what is needed is more funding and research into exactly how so many people are benefiting from it. And what better section of a university is suited to this task than the science faculty?"

(1) Homeopathic treatment for chronic disease: a six-year> University-Hospital Outpatient Observational Study. Dr. D.S> Spence, Dr. E A Thompson & S J Barron. J. Altern. Complement.> Med. 2005; 11:5:793-798

HANSARD WARNING!!! HANSARD WARNING!!!

What follows is an extract from Hansard, the record of events in both houses of the English parlianment. It's a great thing to read if the matters which are being debated concern the reader. Hence the warning, it can be very dull otherwise. This extract also comes with a warning because it is very long. Arguements in support of homoeopathy have been highlighted to make things easier.

Hansard 26 Oct 2006
Medicines for Human Use (National Rules for Homeopathic Products) Regulations 2006
2.13 pm
Lord Taverne rose to move, That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty praying that the regulations, laid before the House on 21 July, be annulled (S.I. 2006/1952). [44th Report from the Merits Committee].
The noble Lord said: My Lords, I declare an interest as the chairman of a charity, Sense About Science, which is concerned with the promotion of good science and an evidence-based approach to the public understanding of scientific issues. The statutory instrument which I seek to annul regulates the marketing of homeopathic products. It was laid before Parliament in July this year, a few days before the House rose for the summer Recess, and there has been no opportunity to debate it. It took effect on 1 September.
26 Oct 2006 : Column 1328
Under European law, there was no obligation for the Government to introduce the regulation. EC Directive 2001/83 left it explicitly to nation states to decide how to regulate homeopathy, provided they meet the basic safety requirements of manufactured products. This regulation was made by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency—the MHRA—explicitly for the benefit of the manufacturers of homeopathic products. As the Explanatory Memorandum explains, the law as it stood formerly did not allow new homeopathic products to make claims for therapeutic benefits on their labels and failure to change the law would, in the words of the MHRA,
“inhibit the expansion of the homeopathic industry”.
There was nothing to stop products being sold under what is known as the “simplified scheme” introduced in 1992, but a claim for efficacy could not then be made which was not scientifically tested.
The new regulation, by the way, is concerned solely with homeopathy, not with alternative medicines in general. It has nothing to do with other so-called complementary medicines such as herbal medicines and acupuncture. I mention that because there has been some confusion about it.
There is one very important, absolutely fundamental objection to this regulation. For the first time in the history of the regulation of medical products, it allows claims of efficacy to be made without scientific evidence. It is an abandonment of science and the evidence-based approach. Under this new regulation, the sole basis on which claims of efficacy can be made for homeopathic products quite legally is “homeopathic provings”. There is no need for clinical or scientific tests.
Homeopathy is not based on science and is not a science in any sense whatever. It is a system originally based on two laws proclaimed by the German physician Hahnemann in 1796. The first was that “like cures like”. For this there is no evidence, any more than there is for the medical practice common at the time of suppressing symptoms by the treatment of opposites. However, as treating “like with like” could mean administering a poison, which is not exactly beneficial, he added a second law: the “law of infinitesimals” , which states that the more a substance is diluted, the greater the benefit. Most homeopathic medicines are just about infinitely diluted in water, commonly by 10 to the power of 30—that is, one followed by 30 noughts. What remains is one part in 1 million million million million million. Nothing of the original substance remains.
Not surprisingly, when homeopathic substances have been tested scientifically by double-blind experiments, no evidence has been found that they work any more than as a placebo. This was recently confirmed by a review in the Lancet of more than 100 different studies, which found that there was insufficient evidence that homeopathy is efficacious for any single clinical condition. The mechanism just cannot work. If it does work, it can only be by magic or miracle.
Of course, a placebo can be helpful, because when people believe that something works, it often does—or they get better anyway—but it is the equivalent of witchcraft. Placebos work in odd ways, 26 Oct 2006 : Column 1329however. Injections have been found to work better than pills, and blue pills work better than red ones, except in the case of Italian men. However, dependence on the equivalent of coloured water can be harmful if people who are seriously ill believe in it strongly enough to avoid taking orthodox medicine. Some sellers of homeopathic products also make claims that, if acted on, could lead to serious consequences. Recently, Sense About Science exposed the fact that homeopathic remedies were being recommended against malaria—a very dangerous recommendation indeed.
Evidence-based medicine has brought huge benefits to mankind. It is disgraceful that this regulation rejects the evidence-based approach. It undermines the value of a licensing regime. There is still much public concern about tragedies such as thalidomide, and we have gradually improved the regulation of medicines based on scientific evidence. The Medicines Act 1968 was part of this progress. There have been further improvements since. That is what we have come to expect. Now we get this regulation. It is not surprising that it has come as a shock to the medical and scientific world.
Those who support evidence-based medicine in the strongest possible terms know that what is at issue here is the relationship of trust between the public and drug regulation. At Sense About Science, we have been inundated with expressions of concern. These include comments from the Royal Society, the Academy of Medical Sciences, the Medical Research Council, the Royal College of Pathologists and very many other scientific bodies. Let me read just three of the comments, the first from the British Pharmacological Society. I quote it first because two members of the MHRA, including the chairman, have pharmacological qualifications. The society says:
“The British Pharmacological Society believes that any claim for a medicine must be based on evidence, and that it is the duty of the regulatory authorities, in particular the MHRA, to ensure that no claims can be made for the efficacy of any form of medicine unless there is good evidence that the claim is true. Despite many years of investigation, we have no convincing scientific evidence that homeopathic remedies work any better than placebo”.
Please note that that comes from the chairman of the MHRA, himself a professor of pharmacology.
The Royal College of Pathologists made the following statement:
“For the first time in its history the regulation of medicines has moved away from science and away from clear information for the public. The College is deeply alarmed”.
Thirdly, I quote the Biosciences Federation, which represents just about every relevant professional society in this field and has also expressed its extreme concern. It declared:
“The new regulations do not comply with the MHRA’s duty to ensure safety and efficacy of medicines, and to provide clear, honest advice to the public”.
How can the Government ignore these concerns? How could the MHRA possibly justify this regulation? As the Biosciences Federation points out, the MHRA is in breach of its statutory duties, yet no one from that official body has come forward to defend its regulation since it became clear that there is 26 Oct 2006 : Column 1330a deep concern in all scientific quarters at what it has done. Both on 1 September and this last week all interviews were refused. That in itself is indefensible, since the MHRA is supposed to be accountable and transparent. Anyway, it is not the business of the MHRA to promote homeopathy or, indeed, any other trade or industry. Its declared aims include helping people to understand the benefits and risks of medical products and to communicate reliable information and advice. Are the Government going to rewrite the objectives of the MHRA to include the promotion of industry? I hope that the Minister will answer that point explicitly.
Can we envisage as a next step that the MHRA will weaken the requirements of scientific testing of drugs, because failure to do so would inhibit the expansion of the pharmaceutical industry? As I said, that is the reason explicitly given for this regulation in the case of the homeopathic industry. What it has done is to promote what is in effect the selling of snake oil. This statutory instrument should be withdrawn—it is a disgrace. I beg to move.
Moved, That an humble Address be presented to Her Majesty praying that the regulations, laid before the House on 21 July, be annulled (S.I. 2006/1952). [44th Report from the Merits Committee].—(Lord Taverne.)
The Countess of Mar: My Lords, it was very easy to predict that the noble Lord, Lord Taverne, would pray against these regulations, for his views on homeopathy are well known. I declare my interest in that I use homeopathy for minor ailments and as preventive measures. I see a qualified homeopath if I have something a bit more complex and I see my GP if I feel that I need his intervention. I firmly believe that those of us who do not wish to clog up our doctors’ surgeries with trivial complaints should be allowed to treat them in whatever way we wish so long as we are armed with accurate information.
These regulations are the result of protracted and wide consultation. They iron out existing anomalies whereby homeopathic medicines that existed before 1971 can carry therapeutic indications on their labels while those registered subsequently cannot. The regulations bring homeopathic medicines into line with the 2005 legislation on “traditional- use” herbal medicines. The information provided is required to be accurate.
Homeopathy is widely used by the general public, who will benefit by being able to choose remedies for minor, self-limiting ailments such as nausea, headache, and the common cold. While there have been no clinical trials for over-the-counter remedies such as cough expectorants, and their efficacy is refuted in the March 2006 51st edition of the British National Formulary, homeopathic medicines have been used for more than 200 years and there is wide bibliographic evidence to support their use and effectiveness. They are safe and, unlike many newly developed drugs for which strict testing is required, have never killed anyone. As the noble Lord, Lord Taverne, should know, the first principle of any therapy is, first of all, do no harm.
26 Oct 2006 : Column 1331
The noble Lord complains that homeopathy is not evidence-based. His charity, Sense About Science, claims:
“Evidence-based medicine has been a major public gain of the 20th century”.
I agree that it is essential to protect the public from powerful new drugs, as has been clearly demonstrated by the recent Northwick Park drug trial that nearly killed six healthy young men. But what about the case of the withdrawal of Vioxx, in which the drug, used to treat arthritis, has been estimated to be responsible for between 88,000 and 140,000 extra cases of serious coronary heart disease in the USA?
The evidence base for many conventional medical treatments is still extremely weak. According to the recent British Medical Journal clinical evidence review of 2,404 conventional treatments, only 15 per cent were rated as beneficial, 22 per cent as likely to be beneficial, 7 per cent as a trade-off between benefits and harms, 5 per cent as unlikely to be beneficial, 4 per cent as likely to be ineffective or harmful, and 47 per cent of unknown effectiveness.
Sense About Science claims that homeopathy is not “evidence-based medicine”. This is utterly untrue. Despite a chronic underfunding of research, the effectiveness of homeopathy in many conditions is supported by randomised clinical trials including for childhood diarrhoea, hay-fever, post-operative ileus and osteoarthritis, all of which were the subject of meta-analyses with positive conclusions. It has proved effective with asthma, fibromyalgia, influenza, glue ear, side effects of radiotherapy or chemotherapy, pain, sprains, upper respiratory tract infections and vertigo—each of which has undergone at least two positive randomised control trials—as well as with anxiety, ADHD, CFS, IBS, migraine, PMS, seborrheic dermatitis and tissue trauma, each of which has been the subject of a single randomised control trial with positive results.
In addition, the six-year study at the Bristol Homeopathic Hospital, part of the United Bristol Healthcare Trust and one of five NHS homeopathic hospitals in the UK, published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine involved over 6,500 consecutive patients with chronic diseases. All were referred by their GP or hospital specialist and many had tried conventional medicine first. There is a group of patients for whom conventional chemical treatments either do not work or are contra-indicated. Many find homeopathy helpful. Over 70 per cent of the Bristol patients in this study reported positive health changes after homeopathic treatment.
The noble Lord states that the rules for the regulation of medicines should not allow homeopathic products to make unsubstantiated health claims. Two hundred years of bibliographic evidence, provings and traditional use are not unsubstantiated health claims. A proving is a qualitative research study observing and recording the experience of a group of health subjects who experimentally take a particular drug. Contemporary, qualitative, narrative-based research methods, which are becoming increasingly accepted in conventional medicine, are very similar to the techniques used in homeopathic provings.
26 Oct 2006 : Column 1332
It seems extraordinary to me that, when faced with a phenomenon like homeopathy which is shown to work, normally credible scientists discard all the findings of numerous scientists such as Preparata, Del Guidice, Kunio Yasue and Louis Rey. Professor Madeleine Ennis of Queen's University, Belfast, with a large pan-European research team led by Professor Roberfroid of the Catholic University, Louvain, set out to show that homeopathy and water memory were utter nonsense. This was an exercise conducted with extreme scientific rigour. The results obtained were statistically significant. This was put down to human error. Professor Ennis then applied an automated counting protocol to the figures. In the end, she had to concede that high dilutions of the active ingredients in homeopathic solutions worked, whether or not the active ingredient was present in the water. She is quoted as saying:
“The results compel me to suspend my disbelief and to start searching for rational explanations for our findings”.
2.30 pm
As is the way with the establishment that so readily dismisses evidence it does not like, the Royal Society attempted to debunk these results in a BBC2 “Horizon” programme. The experiment appeared on television but the findings were never published in a proper scientific journal, unlike Professor Ennis’s research. The 1994 publication in the Lancet of the results of the double-blind placebo controlled studies conducted by Dr David Reilly in Glasgow, which showed that homeopathy worked for asthma, were accompanied by an editorial comment:
“What could be more absurd than the notion that a substance is therapeutically active in dilutions so great that the patient is unlikely to receive a single molecule of it? Yes, the dilution principle of homeopathy is absurd; so the reason for any therapeutic effect presumably lies elsewhere”.
Perhaps the noble Lord, Lord Taverne, and his Sense About Science friends could be persuaded to suspend their disbelief for a while and, instead of looking for a biochemical answer, look for a nano-pharmacologica l or a bio-physical one. Quantum physics provides a tauntingly fascinating window on life and it may just be that, instead of opposing something that he does not understand, his eyes will be opened to a set of totally new concepts. I remind the noble Lord of a speech he made on 24 June 2004, at col. 323 in Hansard. He might recall that he was critical of radiation safety standards. In advocating the benefits of low doses of radiation he described an effect known as hormesis. The toxicological definition of hormesis is:
“A dose response phenomenon characterised by a low dose stimulation, high dose inhibition, resulting in either a J-shaped or an inverted U-shaped dose response. A pollutant or toxin thus has the opposite effect in small doses than in large doses”.
If that is what the noble Lord believes, he should be well on the way to accepting the principles of homeopathy.
I am glad that the Government have agreed to bring in these regulations. The range of products is limited to the treatment of relatively minor, self-limiting conditions. The regulations will bring uniformity to complementary medicinal labelling and provide consumers with informed choice. I ask the Minister to resist the Prayer of the noble Lord, Lord Taverne.
26 Oct 2006 : Column 1333
Lord Turnberg: My Lords, my question for my noble friend the Minister concerns referral to NICE of homeopathic remedies. I should declare my interests as an ex-professor of medicine and ex-president of the Royal College of Physicians.
I can well understand the Government’s desire to try with these regulations to remove some of the confusion that can arise in the public’s mind, given that homeopathic water marketed before 1971 as a remedy could include an indication of what it was meant to treat, while water marketed after that date could be said only to be safe. Now we have the possibility that water that has been subjected to a “homoepathic proving”, in the words of the regulations, can have indications attached. It is unclear to me whether homeopathic proof is simply proof that is so dilute that none of the original is left, or something else. One way to find out is to refer this whole question to NICE so that it can examine it properly. Can I persuade my noble friend to refer homeopathic remedies to NICE?
Then there is the question of reporting of adverse events. That can be best illustrated by the case of homeopathic remedies for malaria, where I understand that patients seen at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases have had their definitive treatments delayed because they have been taking homeopathic remedies. That is a dangerous side effect of homeopathy, albeit indirect: it delays curative treatments. The problem here is that such reports go unreported, either through the adverse events system or through the drug side-effects route. Will my noble friend consider how such potentially dangerous effects of homeopathy can be reported in a systematic way?
Lord Jenkin of Roding: My Lords, I am glad the noble Countess is able to enjoy the benefits of homeopathic remedies, even if she does not know why. I find these regulations very disturbing, as the noble Lord, Lord Taverne, has already outlined. I referred back to Complementary and Alternative Medicine, the report in November 2000 of the Select Committee of this House chaired by the noble Lord, Lord Walton of Detchant. It is, as so many of these reports are, a mine of information and advice. In the summary of recommendations, the committee reported:
“In our opinion any therapy that makes specific claims for being able to treat specific conditions should have evidence of being able to do this above and beyond the placebo effect. This is especially true for therapies which aim to be available on the NHS and aim to operate as an alternative to conventional medicine, specifically therapies in Group 1”.
The House will no doubt be aware that homeopathy was listed by the committee in group 1.
However, looking through the report for greater clarification, I read that: “Many CAM”—that is, complementary and alternative medicine—
“therapies are based on theories about their modes of action that are not congruent with current scientific knowledge. That is not to say that new scientific knowledge may not emerge in the future. Nevertheless as a Select Committee on Science and Technology we must make it clear from the outset that whilst we accept that some CAM therapies, notably osteopathy, 26 Oct 2006 : Column 1334chiropractic and herbal medicine, have scientifically established efficacy in the treatment of a limited number of ailments, we remain sceptical about the modes of action about many of the others”.
It is noteworthy that the Select Committee did not include homeopathy in that list. That report was published six years ago. Has anything changed since then? Would a Select Committee looking at that today have included homeopathy in the list with the other treatments mentioned?
I turn to the question of research. I listened to the noble Countess with great interest. I hope the Minister will be able to confirm or comment upon what she said. The report says in chapter 7, “Research and Development”:
“To conduct research into CAM disciplines will require much work and resources, and will therefore be time-consuming. Hence, we recommend that three important questions should be addressed in the following order:
(i) To provide a starting point for possible improvements in CAM treatment, to show whether further inquiry would be useful, and to highlight any areas where its application could inform conventional medicine—does the treatment offer therapeutic benefits greater than placebo?
(ii) To protect patients from hazardous practices—is the treatment safe?
(iii) To help patients, doctors and healthcare administrators choose whether or not to adopt the treatment—how does it compare, in medical outcome and cost effectiveness, with other forms of treatment?”.
Has this research been done on homeopathy? If so, where, by whom and with what results? Has it been peer-reviewed? I hope the Minister will be able to answer those questions in his reply.
My central objection to the new regulations is that by bending the rules—the reference to “proven” results is quite different from the normal rules about effectiveness and safety—they appear to give an official imprimatur to treatments for which there is no scientific evidence of safety and efficacy. I find that very disturbing, as did the noble Lords, Lord Taverne and Lord Turnberg. I hope the Minister will be able to reassure the House.
Lord Rees of Ludlow: My Lords, the Royal Society, of which I have the honour to be president, believes that all complementary and alternative medicines should be subject to careful evaluation of their efficacy and their safety. All treatments so labelled should be properly tested and patients should not receive misleading information.
There are no great concerns about the safety of homeopathic treatments. What is at issue is their effectiveness. Obviously placebo effects can be powerful, nobody denies that. It is, however, quite different to assert that homeopathic treatments offer benefits beyond a placebo. Indeed, if medicines can really work even when so diluted that barely a single molecule is left, this would entail some fundamentally new scientific principle with amazingly broad ramifications. It would mean that materials like water carry imprints of their past and can remember their history, as it were, in some quite novel and mysterious way. If that were the case, it would have fundamental implications for precise experiments over the whole of science.
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So it seems to me that the burden of proof on homeopathic remedies should actually be higher, not lower, than for conventional ones. Extraordinary claims demand extraordinary evidence. To put it mildly, so-called “homeopathic provings” seem to fall far short of that. That is why I wholeheartedly support what the noble Lord, Lord Taverne, is saying on this issue.
Lord Colwyn: My Lords, patients tend to use complementary medicine as a supplement to orthodox medicine. There is less emphasis on symptoms and the treatment is usually highly individualised. Whether the treatment is herbal, essential oils, acupuncture or homeopathic, it will be influenced by the patient’s personality and lifestyle as much as by the problem that is presented.
Given the massively high levels of iatrogenic disease and morbidity from orthodox treatments, I am astonished that the noble Lord, Lord Taverne, can dismiss homeopathy in such a frivolous manner. He and my noble friend Lord Jenkin imply that homeopathy can be harmful. I sat on the Select Committee to which the noble Lord referred and although I do not have the papers in front of me, I believe we felt that as homeopathic medicines were basically water, they could not be harmful.
Each year in the UK, about 850,000 adverse effects are caused by orthodox medical treatment. I am sorry to say that 120,000 of these are deaths. How can the use of homeopathy compare with this? Where is the logic of dismissing treatment by a homeopathic product which has never directly caused a death and, when analysed, is shown to contain no active ingredient? Is it not unscientific to abandon treatments that are valued and desired by patients or to dismiss treatments that a particular lobby just does not like?
To say that homeopathy is not evidence-based is completely untrue. Despite chronic underfunding, a substantial body of evidence exists to prove the effectiveness of homeopathy. Now is not the time to list them. The noble Countess, Lady Mar, mentioned some and the evidence is available. I went on a course about 15 years ago on the relationship between quantum physics and homeopathy. I probably did not understand a word I was told at the time, but at least there was evidence that the two were linked.
If homeopathic treatments are harmful, why is there almost total absence of any negligence claims to prove the point? Any case against homeopathy must rest on the argument that the most innocuous of practices may be harmful if they prevent the patient from seeking other more appropriate treatment. Despite the persistence of this line of attack and the anecdotal stories we have heard today, there is no firm evidence to support it. The homeopathic approach helps patients for whom conventional treatment has been unsuccessful or has unacceptable side effects.
It is interesting to consider why homeopathy, which of all complementary therapies is probably at most variance with orthodox medicine, should have received sufficient support from the Government to be able to maintain a number of specialised hospitals.
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The new regulations clear up an anomaly and bring the UK into line with other countries and the 2005 legislation on the traditional use of herbal medicines which allows a herbal product with 30 years’ traditional use to include indications based on information obtained from its long-standing use and experience.
Companies will now be encouraged to register new homeopathic medicines, with the option of reregistering certain existing products, and will be allowed to include information about the treatment and relief of minor, self-limiting conditions based on the use of the product within the homeopathic tradition. The legislation will benefit the ever-growing number of users of homeopathic medicine, and its provisions will encourage growth in the range of products in the market and enhance the consumer’s understanding of their benefits.
Homeopathic medicines have been used for more than 200 years and there is wide evidence to support their use and effectiveness, placebo effect or not—and I have no problem with the placebo effect. They are safe and have never killed anyone, unlike many newly developed drugs for which strict testing is justifiably required. I must resist the Prayer.
Baroness Barker: My Lords, it is always interesting to follow my noble friend Lord Taverne in a debate. I look forward to taking part in debates with him as he is not only an incredibly knowledgeable but a very passionate speaker.
It is important not to lose sight of what we are talking about here. We are talking about remedies for minor self-limiting conditions, such as travel sickness and muscular pain. Most of the orthodox equivalents for those conditions would be over-the-counter medicines, which probably have efficacy rates that are equally contentious.
It therefore seems to me that the principal matter we should address is the extent to which these products are deemed to be safe and the claims that are made about them. I agree with what my noble Lord, Lord Rees, said in his introduction, although perhaps not with his conclusions.
My reading of the order before us is that an extensive process is set out by which product manufacturers are required to demonstrate safety. There is an inherent dilemma in the questions my noble friend Lord Taverne poses to the homeopathic world. While he dismisses their products as being ineffective and not scientifically proven, he then asks for scientific proof. I would imagine that those on the other side of the argument would point out that that is an impossible thing to ask. They cannot, and perhaps do not wish to, prove what they do in scientific terms. I am struck by the extent to which we have to try to keep a sense of equivalence in all of this. The noble Lord, Lord Turnberg, made an interesting point about the extent to which homeopathic remedies might make people present late for conventional treatment. The same accusation might well be levelled against conventional orthodox treatments of a minor nature. That is one of the difficulties we have.
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The principal question I want the Minister to answer is: what would have been the effect on public health and the health of individuals had this measure not been tabled and had the MRHA not set out the requirements that it has? Leading on from that, the key question for all of us is what the consequent marketing authorisations will be for these products. What claims will manufacturers be able to make for them? The phrase “for the relief of” has already been mentioned. That phrase is used by those whose products for treating minor conditions such as flu are of a more conventional nature. I am not sure that they are any more effective.
It is important that we know precisely what the marketing authorisation will be. What statement will manufacturers be able to make as a result of their product meeting the regulations? That issue was mentioned in the papers that we have been given. I note that in the consultation on the regulations there seemed to be a body of opinion that a product which had been through this process could be marketed as an anthroposophic medicinal product. I sincerely hope that that is not the case as that would be highly misleading for the general public. If as a result of going through these processes, a statement can be made that a product is based on homeopathic assessment, that is fair and reasonable. It is accurate and does not claim to be done on a scientific basis.
There is agreement—whether negative or positive—that on balance homeopathy does no harm. Certainly its efficacy is unproven. We need to be sure that the measure does not open the way for product manufacturers to take greater licence than they should on making efficacy claims for products and regarding the basis of those claims. If the noble Lord can answer those questions, I shall be content for the measure to proceed.
Lord McColl of Dulwich: My Lords, as the noble Lord, Lord Taverne, has said, if a patient has faith in a remedy, it is perfectly possible for their symptoms to be relieved, so long as they are not serious. If, in addition, the patient is made happy by that, his immune system will work better. There is good scientific evidence on that.
One of the problems with this whole subject is that it is bedevilled by various organisations putting forward explanations for how these alternative therapies work. I mention acupuncture en passant. There is no doubt that acupuncture works, probably through releasing endorphins. But this business of there being special tracks and of having to insert the needle in special places is not so. You can stick them in anywhere and the effect is still the same. In reflexology you will see a diagram of the foot and various areas described as the lung area, the heart area and various other areas. What a pity that these strange explanations are given. Why do they not say, “If you’re feeling ill and a beautiful young lady comes along and rubs your foot, you will feel better”? That is perfectly acceptable.
Having said that, alternative therapies have been shown to help with diseases such as multiple sclerosis and cancer, as NICE has reported. Homeopathic 26 Oct 2006 : Column 1338remedies have specifically been proved to help women with PMS. Even if homeopathic medicines cannot be proved to be positively effective, at least they do no harm, as has been argued already.
The EU directive, which we were not obliged to enforce, states that, in order to acquire marketing authorisation, a herbal product must have been used in medical practice for at least 30 years, with 15 of those years having been in the EU. This directive covers only products that are taken orally, used externally or inhaled. It has obviously been forgotten that there is another route for medicines, especially in France. Does the Minister have any information on that?
Article 8 requires that the decision to license a medicine is based on the quality, efficacy and safety of the product. The fees for gaining a licence for a product will vary according to the number of active ingredients. As some products contain large numbers of ingredients, this could prove very expensive. How will it be decided which ingredients are active?
Under the directive, the efficacy of traditional herbal medicinal products does not have to be supported using clinical studies. That is a great pity. The pharmacological effects and efficacy must be shown to be plausible on the basis of long-standing use and experience. How will NICE define “plausible”? NICE determines all its decisions on the use of drugs on an analysis of their cost and clinical effectiveness and believes that homeopathic medicines should be treated in exactly the same way as traditional medicines in deciding whether the NHS should provide them to the public. What advice is the Minister now giving to NICE on this aspect?
The Conservatives believe that the NHS should not exclude alternative therapies. If the NHS rules out providing a herbal therapy, it should do so only on the basis of indisputable evidence, as is the case with all other conventional medicines. Equally, if the NHS decides to provide a particular treatment, this should again be done on the back of evidence. We see the most effective route as the cost-clinical effectiveness criteria which NICE employs in the decision-making process on drug regulation and use. We have always said that as long as these remedies have been proven to be safe, they should be available to buy. Consumers are then free to make their own assessment.
Baroness O'Neill of Bengarve: My Lords, I declare an interest as a trustee of Sense About Science. I believe that the public damage in these regulations does not lie in the circulation of homeopathic remedies but in the diffusion of the standard for the evaluation of remedies. It seems to me that NICE is the one body that can arbitrate in this area. I hope that the Minister will respond to the question of the noble Lord, Lord Turnberg, on the role of NICE in this matter.
The Minister of State, Department of Health (Lord Warner): My Lords, one of the great joys of being a Health Minister in this House is that I am treated to a wide range of views. I am often strongly encouraged to support rather conflicting views.
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I shall try to confine my remarks to making clear the Government’s role in the regulation of homeopathic products and explaining the aims of the new national rules scheme, about which there may be some misunderstanding, given the remarks made in the debate. I bow to the professional knowledge of the noble Lord, Lord McColl, on which orifice to use for which medication.
The use of homeopathic products in this country has a long tradition, as a result of which a wide range has been available and regulated in the UK for many years. Homeopathic products have, for example, been available in the NHS since its inception in 1948. Successive Governments have accepted that homeopathy has its place within the range of treatment options available to patients. That is a historical fact. This Government strongly believe that consumers in the UK should be free to make informed choices about their care, and that includes the freedom to choose homeopathic products. Whether such products are supplied and paid for by the NHS is, under current funding arrangements, for local NHS service providers and primary care trusts to decide. That is exactly the same system that was in place when the noble Lord, Lord Jenkin of Roding, was a distinguished Secretary of State for Health.
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These new regulations flow from new EU medicines legislation, but it is optional to member states whether they bring it in. This Government have chosen to introduce the new scheme because it will improve the regulation of these products in the UK while continuing to support the principle that consumers should have the right to choose to use them if they so wish. Apart from Denmark and France, we are the only EU country so far to have introduced this scheme that will improve the protection of consumers who choose to use such products, and we have acted in patients’ interests, not in the promotion of commercial products.
Because homeopathic products are different from conventional medicines, it is right that they are regulated differently. Their efficacy cannot be demonstrated in the same way as is required for conventional medicinal products to obtain a licence, but that does not mean that homeopathic products should not be available. Having listened to the debate, I am not entirely clear how such products could ever demonstrate efficacy if they were totally banned. That would be a challenging scientific proposition.
The new national rules scheme that this Government have introduced provides an appropriate regulatory scheme that will improve how many current homeopathic products are regulated. The new scheme continues to give consumers assurances of quality of manufacture and of safety and will provide them with better information about the products available. It develops existing arrangements, which involve two types of registration. The first is for homeopathic products that were on the market when the Medicines Act came into force in 1971 which have product licences of right (PLRs). When these products were included in that scheme in 1971, producers were allowed to label their products to say 26 Oct 2006 : Column 1340what they could be used for. Many of those products are still on the market today.
The second regime is called the simplified scheme, which was introduced in 1992, when the EU first produced legislation for homeopathic products. New products coming on to the market since then have had to comply with those EU rules or with all the rules for conventional medicines, which of course would require them to demonstrate efficacy through clinical trials. Homeopathic products clearly could not do that. Moreover, the scheme’s products may not be labelled to say what they are for—that might be a disadvantage for users. In answer to the noble Baroness, Lady Barker, those existing regulations would continue if these new regulations were not introduced.
The introduction of the new national rules scheme offers an alternative approach that will bring a number of benefits for patients. First, it will, for the first time since the PLR scheme in 1971, allow homeopathic products to be marketed with information to the consumer about what they can be used for. This will provide better information to the consumer and reduce the risk of confusion. We expect that some products currently authorised under the simplified scheme will be switched because they will, for the first time if they qualify, be allowed to be labelled as suitable for the relief of specified conditions. However, to qualify for authorisation under this scheme, the manufacturer has to show, from literature, that there is a tradition of use of that product for a particular purpose. So an evidence base is being used, although it may not satisfy everyone who has spoken.
Secondly, homeopathic products authorised under the new national rules scheme are required to comply with all aspects of the conventional medicines regime, except the requirement to demonstrate efficacy through clinical trials. That will bring significant benefits: improved assurances of quality in manufacture, safety, the review of information given to consumers, and the requirement to submit regular safety reports to the regulator and to submit to inspections. All those elements should reassure consumers, as the measures will enhance safety for those who choose to use homeopathic products.
Thirdly, and importantly, the new national rules scheme provides a possible regulatory home previously not available when we had only the simplified scheme or a full licence available for the products with product licences of right. The MHRA intends to review all the PLRs in the next seven years to ensure that they are of appropriate quality and safety. The MHRA will allow only products authorised under the new scheme to be labelled as suitable for the relief of minor symptoms or conditions—as the noble Baroness, Lady Barker, made clear—products that you would expect to see available on general sale in, for example, supermarkets.
This measure, while maintaining consumers’ freedom to choose to use homeopathic products, will ensure that such products are better regulated and provide more and better information to the consumer. Furthermore, a mandatory statement will be included in the pack instructing the patient to consult their doctor if symptoms persist. Again, that is a new 26 Oct 2006 : Column 1341measure that directs people towards conventional medicine if there is a problem.
The Advisory Board on the Registration of Homeopathic Products, a committee established under the Medicines Act to advise Ministers on matters concerning homeopathic products, will be instrumental in providing advice on the indications for, and safety and quality of, products registered under the new scheme, and on the review and rationalisation of PLRs. In last year’s review of the medicines advisory committee, the advisory board was given a new and enhanced role to advise the Government directly on matters relating to homeopathy. It is an independent committee whose membership includes homeopathic practitioners, people with a wide range of clinical expertise, including GPs, paediatricians, toxicologists and pharmacists.
The noble Lord, Lord Taverne, suggested that the Government are bowing to commercial pressure from the homeopathic industry in introducing this scheme. This is absolutely not the case. I have had meetings with the homeopathic industry, and I do not think that it sees us in the light that has been described this afternoon.
As I have explained, the Government believe that the new national rules scheme provides a significant opportunity to improve consumer information about the use of homeopathic medicinal products on the UK market while maintaining rigorous control over their quality and safety. That will be welcomed by consumers who choose to use those products for minor conditions or illnesses.
Unfortunately, a number of remarks have been made about the MHRA. It is not in breach of its statutory duties, nor does it promote homeopathic products on behalf of the industry that sells them. Having worked with the MHRA as the Minister responsible for it for two years, I regard it as a distinguished public body that has done a great deal in this country to protect the public through the regulation of medicinal products in a scientific way. The MHRA has a role in not only authorising products on grounds of efficacy, but ensuring that safety and quality standards are maintained. It is not concerned purely with efficacy.
We accept that this scheme does not provide any endorsement of clinical efficacy as happens with conventional medicines. It is not designed to replace the use of more conventional treatments, which is why it is restricted to products for the relief of minor conditions that do not require medical intervention. Central to our policy was the inclusion of a statement in the product literature advising patients to consult their doctor if symptoms persist. I believe that the scheme will enable consumers to make more informed choices about the use of homeopathic products, and the regulatory regime will ensure that standards of quality and safety are maintained in the production and use of homeopathic products.
That stance in no way diminishes the Government’s support for evidence-based medicine or for scientific research into new pharmaceutical products that benefit patients. We have done much as a Government to support science and research, and will continue to do so. Homeopathic products are, 26 Oct 2006 : Column 1342however, in a different category. Provided that such products are safe, properly manufactured and clearly labelled without making false claims, which they will be under the new national rules scheme, patients should not be denied access to them for the conditions to which they relate.
A number of noble Lords, including my noble friend Lord Turnberg, raised the issue of NICE. The Government have no plans to refer homeopathic remedies to NICE at present. I gently draw noble Lords’ attention to the fact that NICE has quite a few things on its plate at the moment, including many potentially life-saving drugs. However, there is nothing to stop the use of the yellow card scheme, authorised under the new national rules scheme, to be applied in respect of adverse effects to homeopathic products, as is the case with conventional medicines.
I believe that this is an area where we have to regulate in the way that we have done but, in our view, we must not deny people the right to use these medicines when they are safe, manufactured to an appropriate quality and properly labelled. These are good regulations that should be on the statute book.
Lord Taverne: My Lords, it would be inappropriate to reply to the various issues raised in this debate, but I must make a few very brief points. The intention of this Prayer is not to ban the sale or diffusion of homeopathic products but to stop regulation that allows claims of efficacy which do not have scientific proof and which encourage people to believe that homeopathy works in a way that cannot be proved. That could have, and has had, serious effects in some cases.
I am extremely disappointed by the Minister's reply because he has not denied—indeed, he could not deny—that these regulations turn their back on the entire history of the regulation of medical products in which such products have been scientifically proved. Nor did he answer the question about the interests of the homeopathic industry—indeed, he denied that the regulations had anything to do with that.
Perhaps I may read the appropriate sentence from the Explanatory Memorandum attached to these regulations:
“Although the development of national rules ... under the ... Directive is optional, failing to introduce the scheme would inhibit the expansion of the homeopathic industry”.
If that does not mean that the purpose of the regulations is to assist the homeopathic industry, I do not know what it means.
I should also like the Minister to look again at the whole role of the MHRA, which has now abandoned its purpose of guaranteeing the safety and, in particular, the efficacy of its products.
I am afraid that the noble Lord’s reply will not reassure the numerous—in fact, almost comprehensive— list of medical bodies that have expressed extreme concern at the MHRA’s change of tack. His reply was feeble, and I am sorry to say that the reply from my own Front Bench was equally feeble. If they are to be taken seriously, perhaps sometimes they should apply a little intellectual rigour.

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I understand that it is not customary to have a vote on a Prayer of this kind. We shall continue, as I am sure will many others, to press for these regulations to be withdrawn. I hope that the Government will give further thought to them, but I beg leave to withdraw the Motion.
Motion, by leave, withdrawn.

Loud cheers from the gallery.

Hello again. So, you made it. This blog is really meant to be telling you all about my experiences as a homoeopath in Africa.

I'll tell you all about it in the next thrilling installment