The British medical and scientific organisation Sense About Science says homeopathic treatments of diseases like AIDS, HIV, malaria and tuberculosis in developing countries should be banned.  It says these treatments do not work and they only give false hope.

"Homeopathy does not protect people from these diseases", says Julia Wilson of Sense About Science. "When homeopathy stands in place of effective treatment, lives are lost", she warns.

Companies
Ms Wilson says various homeopathic organisations are now working in Africa, India and Asia and has called on the World Health Organisation and health ministries to intervene.
 

"In Kenya, the homeopathic Abha Light Foundation runs twenty health centres, various mobile clinics and even a couple of HIV/AIDS clinics. Other companies are working in Botswana, Tanzania and India, claiming to treat all these serious diseases. Unfortunately, it simply doesn't work at all. Homeopathy doesn't treat these serious diseases".
 

Dutch congress
Sense About Science was alarmed only recently by a congress held in The Netherlands, 'Homeopathy for developing countries', which brought together homeopathic companies and practitioners who have taken their work to Africa. “These congresses shouldn't be allowed at all”, says Ms Wilson. "It's incredibly unethical to promote homeopathy in developing countries, because they’re putting lives at risk”.

Obviously, the homeopaths themselves say their methods do work, and with so many followers in the Western world they find little resistance in exporting their treatments to developing countries. But the sceptics see this as an extra impetus to take action.

WHO
After June's congress in Amsterdam, Sense About Science wrote a letter to the World Health Organisation (WHO), asking for homeopathic practices to be banned in Africa. "But we were shocked to hear the WHO never had any guidelines on homeopathy", Ms Wilson says. "Which made our case even more urgent".

'No place'
But now the WHO has responded by issuing a statement, saying that "people with conditions such as HIV, tuberculosis and malaria should not rely on homeopathy". Tuberculosis experts from the WHO added that homeopathy has "no place" in treatment of the disease.

Sense About Science is delighted with this statement. "This is the first time they've come out and said something against homeopathy", notes Ms Wilson. "We'll send this response to every health minister in the world. What we really want them to do is to see if this is happening in their country and to create laws that prevent it".

"The homeopaths are honestly thinking they’re doing something good and that they’re helping the people of Africa", Ms Wilson admits. "But we feel that they’re doing a lot of harm and that it’s very dangerous".