Messages

LMHI is organizing a virtual Global Colloquium 2021 on “Homoeopathy: A Medical Science Ahead of its Time”. The topic is timely and appropriate as there is an urgent need to address future growth and development of homeopathy. The aim is to bring together academicians, clinicians, scientists, research scholars, students, and professionals, from various educational and health care institutes, research organisations, industries, and consumers of homeopathy from across the globe to share and exchange ideas, knowledge, experiences, and information.

It has become imminent to explore and utilise all possible opportunities to achieve international acceptability for homeopathy. We all need to strive collectively towards innovative and research oriented homeopathic education. State-of-the-art facilities and technology driven infrastructure need to be created for excellence in education and training, cutting-edge research, and quality health care. Policy makers need to focus on development of benchmarks for homeopathic education and quality standards for health care, including standard treatment protocols that are applicable in different parts of the world. The virtues of Homeopathy such as safety, cost effectiveness, easy to take intake, high level of acceptability merits its integration in public health programmes, including management of epidemics/pandemics. Multidisciplinary collaborations are necessary for advanced level of research in these area. Pharmaceutical industry may take a lead and invest in research. various academic and public health initiatives in collaboration with educational institutions.

It will hopefully provide renewed and insightful vision and add a new impetus to the development of homeopathy. I want to thank the organizing team and everyone involved in making this colloquium a great success

The idea of organizing the colloquium was engendered because, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the annual LMHI congress had to be postponed, twice, and we saw the need to get together as a community, to share our experiences and get updates on the fundamental work that conscientious colleagues, legitimate scientists, from various disciplines have executed to validate the mechanism of action of homeopathic medicines and findings from their application in the clinical field, particularly regarding the pandemic and considering the extensive history of the use of homeopathy in epidemics from the beginning of the 19th century and its documented efficacy in the treatment of scarlet fever, cholera, chickenpox, measles, influenza and other diseases.

The challenges we have had in organizing this event range from language and geographical differences, time constraints and logistics, which has required the immense collaboration of dozens of volunteers from around the world. There are also issues regarding scientific perspectives.

The fact is that homeopathy is based on classical science, and there is evidence that conforms to modern requirements for valid scientific evidence to prove the homeopathic treatment paradigm is true and legitimate. However, it is true that we need to accumulate more evidence, at the highest level possible, and that there is a significant amount of pseudo-science within our ranks that needs to be reasonably addressed.

Our goal is to present such evidence, from basic research to conscientiously documented clinical cases and case studies, systematic cohort studies and high-quality double blind placebo controlled studies. We expect that at the end of the colloquium, homeopathy will be seen as a valid therapeutic tool that should not displace conventional approaches, but that can enhance our therapeutic tools to heal the suffering in an effective and benign manner, and at a low cost.