International Conference Homeopathy for Developing Countries

On a sunny June weekend in the cloistered halls of Het Klooster, once a monastery and now a modern conference centre set in Amersfoort, the Netherland's greenest city, homeopathic history was being made. A hundred delegates from twenty-five different countries had travelled from Africa, India, Nepal, the Caribbean, the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and across Europe to take part in the first ever International Conference on Homeopathy in the Developing World. The long held dream of Harry van der Zee finally took flight that Friday evening, and as an excited group of early arrivals met for soup and sandwiches, the agenda was clear: to celebrate, inspire and encourage the work being done.

This was a gathering of diverse humanity, but all with a particular shared experience, a group used to working out in the field, used to relying on their own resources, used to living on the edge, and to putting themselves on the frontline for the greater good and for what they believed in. Meeting at last in one place to share ideas and offer mutual support was a rare and precious thing.

By Saturday morning the rest of the delegates were arriving en masse into the conference hall, a soaring open space full of light that was once the monastery's church and which still commanded a certain hushed reverence. The projector screen at the front beamed out the conference logo and reminded us all of the reason for the gathering (see Fig. [1]).

Fig. 1 Conference logo (photo by John Fox, Malawi).

The scheduled programme was an ambitious mix of case reports, panel discussions, interactive exchange sessions and reports from the field. One glance at the brochure left no doubt that there is an enormous amount of high quality homeopathic work being done in the developing world, on a wide range of different projects, both educational and clinical, in diverse situations and addressing a variety of specific diseases and health challenges.

To do justice to all the presentations would require a small book, but highlighting a few gives at least a glimpse into the scope and diversity of the work currently in progress, against the odds, with limited funding, and extensive use of personal resources. It should make all of us in the homeopathic community proud.

Saturday morning Kees Dam of the Netherlands opened the conference, and drew on the experience of the Dutch section of Homeopaths Without Borders (HWB) in Bosnia to discuss the potential of homeopathy in cases of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Ien Brethouwer and Irma Janssen of HWB reported on their work in traumatized Georgia.

Jeremy Sherr of the UK/Israel discussed the homeopathic theory of epidemics and its potential significance in the treatment of AIDS in Africa. He identified the possibility of using homeopathy alongside anti-retrovirals (ARVs) to help alleviate the most distressing side-effects of the drugs, enabling patients to stay on the medication when they might otherwise give them up. He made a definitive public statement that homeopaths do not recommend that patients come off ARVs, in fact quite the reverse, homeopaths recommend that AIDS patients take advantage of the medications that are available to them.

Adjoa Margaret Stack from the USA gave two lively reports about the Senya/Tamale malaria project, and her work on the Genus Epidemicus of malaria in Ghana (Fig. [2]).

Fig. 2 Adjoa Margaret Stack (photo by Carol Boyce).

There was a report presented by Linda Shannon and Angelika Metzger from a separate Ghana Homeopathy Project detailing their introduction of homeopathy into primary health care, the resulting cost saving, and the subsequent development of a coherent training for Ghanaian homeopaths.

Kenya was represented by Claire Niala of the Abhalight Foundation which offered replication of their local clinic design as a model for community homeopathy across Kenya and beyond, and by Mary Kemuntu of the Kwale Homeopathic Academic Clinic which trains young women, mainly orphans, as homeopathic nurses.

Harry van der Zee outlined the Amma4Africa project's practical concept for the training of local health care workers on how to treat epidemics and trauma using the Amma4Africa Kit and Manual, and gave a presentation on his work with PC malaria and the possible role and purpose of malaria in developing countries.

Martin Brands gave an in-depth analysis of research methodologies available for investigation into the homeopathic treatment of malaria. He brought a smile to the audience with his closing slide (Fig. [3]).

Fig. 3 Malaria mosquito – bye bye (photo by Carol Boyce).

A last minute addition to the schedule allowed delegates from India's Ministry of Health and Family Welfare to fill the spot of an African delegate who had not been able to attend. Dr Das and Dr Panda presented a detailed overview of India's use of homeopathy for maternal health and the presence of government representatives lent further credence to the conference proceedings. The Indian delegates found it amazing that not all countries in the developing world have incorporated homeopathic medicine into their country's health care system, and they generously offered to present the Indian experience to representatives of any governments not yet fully convinced of the benefits (Fig. [4]).

Fig. 4 Dr Eswara Das (left) in discussion (photo by Carol Boyce).

The Nepalese representative Bishnu Bhakta Kawan gave a case of Buerger's disease successfully treated with Secale cornutum, and in a separate presentation, he and Rob Brik (who also presented Cola nidata as a remedy for health workers) reflected on fifteen years of homeopathic education at the Bhaktapur International Homeopathic Clinic.

Martine Jourde from Canada's Homeopaths from Earth Without Borders, with thirty-five years experience in the sustainable development of community health projects, focused on the contribution this project has made to the fight against Chagas disease, while Arjen Pasma from the Netherlands demonstrated his repertory training programme – now translated into English and offered free of charge to all projects in developing countries.

In what proved to be a timely lecture, Leo van Gelder, also from the Netherlands, discussed the difficulty of communication between the homeopathic community and others: the developing world; the media; conventional medicine, and also within the community itself.

And so it went on. An impressive and rich diversity of work was laid out for us all to share.

One of the highlights of the conference must be the presentation from Cuba.

Dr Gustavo Bracho gave an illustrated account of the research into the potential for homeopathic prophylaxis recently completed at the prestigious Finlay Institute. Two million Cubans were given homeopathic prophylaxis for Leptospirosis and the incidence of the disease fell dramatically whilst the death rate was cut to zero. It's a compelling study with a solid methodology, and conducted by well qualified researchers at a respected scientific institute: all that remains is for a medical journal somewhere to have the courage to publish the results. At the time of writing, the work remains unpublished.

As often happens at conferences it was during the breaks that the real work took place, and the constant buzz of sharing, caring, networking, support, both practical and emotional, and planning for the future, was audible. Perhaps most importantly, was the clear and shared awareness that to work in another country requires respect for the local population, their culture and their stated needs, together with clear communication and ongoing dialogue.

Saturday evening offered more opportunity to mix and network, and a drum workshop allowed delegates to shift gears before the formal Saturday evening dinner ended with a loud and enthusiastic toast to the future of homeopathy in the developing world.

Time was already too short to hear from all the projects currently in progress and Sunday morning brought delegates a difficult dilemma when the conference ran two parallel sessions. Choosing the interactive session meant missing the morning's reports; hearing the reports meant not participating in the interactive session!

The interactive session provided an opportunity for self-reflection and asked delegates why they were drawn to working in the developing world – an essential exercise for anyone attracted to the helping professions – and it was a great pity that some delegates were unable to attend. On the other hand, the Sunday morning reports covered another group of innovative projects in Africa, Nepal and India, and it was a great pity that not everyone was able to hear them. (Harry, at the next conference we need an extra day!)

Sunday evening came all too quickly and only those with pre-booked travel arrangements found it possible to leave! Those who lived locally or were not travelling until Monday, continued discussions long after hours while the patient Klooster's manager stacked the furniture around us! Some of us regrouped in the neighbouring hotel dining room and talked on into the night. The possibility of having another such conference in two years time seemed a long, long time away.