WHO slaps homoeopathy
South Africa has emerged out of a particularly shameful period of AIDS denialism. This was led by denialist-in-chief, ex-president Thabo Mbeki and his demented sycophant, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, minister of health (and kleptomaniac alcoholic). This evil duo caused at least 300,000 deaths through the implementation of their criminal pseudo-science.
The anti-science atmosphere created by these monsters opened the door to a panoply of quacks and pedlars of death. The most famous of these was Matthias Rath. This vitamin salesman persuaded Manto to promote his brand of quackery while he attacked ARVs. Read Ben Goldacre’s account of Rath, even if it’s just to see how dangerous pseudo-science is.
This fertile ground was eyed by those water salesmen, homoeopaths. The charge to exploit Africa’s extremely vulnerable AIDS sufferers was led by one Jeremy Sherr. He is apparently well-known among homoeopaths in Britain. As Orac so amusingly notes, “Of course, to me being ‘famous’ in homeopathy circles is much the same as being famous in the con artist circles…”. He claimed to have set up a research programme in South Africa (debunked by South African Skeptics) with homoeopathic “medicine” alone as one of the arms of the trial – knowing full well that using a placebo in an AIDS trial is highly unethical.
As the homoeopaths moved in – such as the Maun Homeopathy Project in Botswana – an alarmed group of early career medics and researchers wrote an open letter to the the World Health Organisation calling for the body to issue a clear international communication about the inappropriate use of homoeopathy for five serious diseases, including HIV/AIDS. As Juliet Stevens, Medical Student, University of Oxford (on placement at Somerset State Hospital, Cape Town, South Africa) said in the letter:
“Despite awareness in Britain of the medical burden in South Africa, little can prepare you for seeing this first hand. On the Paediatric wards infants are diagnosed with stage 3 HIV/AIDS on a daily basis, and TB meningitis is rife. The minimal cost of state healthcare is prohibitive for some, and denial regarding HIV diagnoses is still common, making the population here a vulnerable target for unproven therapies.”
Now the tide is turning. To its credit the new Zuma administration in South Africa has reversed Mbeki’s disastrous policies and ARVs are being vigorously distributed. And the WHO has positively responded to the open letter:
The WHO has responded to the open letter and said that it DOES NOT recommend the use of homeopathy for treating HIV, TB, malaria, influenza and infant diarrhoea. The Director General’s office has confirmed that the responses from WHO departments (below) “clearly express the WHO’s position”. Today the Voice of Young Science network, has written to the health ministers of all countries to publicise the WHO’s position, asking them to combat the promotion of homeopathy for these dangerous diseases.
The message should come out loudly and strongly from Africa: Homoeopaths, take your worthless bottles of water and sugar pills – along with your groundless promises to the desperate and poor – and GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!
Comments
Tell me what you're thinking...
and oh, if you want a pic to show with your comment, go get a gravatar!
-
Recommended
