“The introduction of homeopathy forced the old school doctor to stir around and learn something of a rational nature about his business. You may honestly feel grateful that homeopathy survived the attempts of allopaths to destroy it.”
Mark Twain, Harper’s Bazaar, 1890
Introduction to The Solution, 2011
As the United States becomes less and less tolerant of those who choose not to vaccinate and increasingly stringent about mandating a multitude of vaccinations for diseases that most in previous generations survived in childhood, Homeoprophylaxis, the gentle education of the immune system through the administration of homeopathic remedies and nosodes, provides a shining light at the end of a seemingly endless tunnel.
Following the lead of world-renowned homeopath Dr. Isaac Golden of Australia, Kate Birch and Cilla Whatcott formed Free and Healthy Children International in the United States, with a mission to educate parents about and train homeopaths in the administration of Homeoprophylaxis, or HP. The two homeopaths had just published The Solution, the groundbreaking 2011 book about the benefits of and research behind HP.
The book includes HP’s history. Samuel Hahnemann first documented HP in 1801, when he described using Belladonna for the prevention of scarlet fever. Homeopath James Compton Burnett proposed the use of HP as an alternative to the smallpox and rabies vaccines of his time. Variolinum, the homeopathic preparation or nosode of smallpox, provides an early example of HP. During an outbreak of meningococcal disease in Brazil in 1974, thousands of children received successful HP protection from the disease. Brazil repeated the study in 1998, on a larger scale. This study proved, once again, that HP provides over 90% protection against disease, as opposed to the 63% effectiveness of traditional vaccines. HP has effectively prevented Japanese Encephalitis in India, Dengue fever in Brazil, Leptospirosis in Cuba, and Polio in the United States and Argentina.
Since 1985, Dr. Golden has studied the effectiveness of HP in nearly 3,000 children. He has evaluated HP’s effectiveness in disease prevention, as well as how it compares with conventional methods of vaccination, in order to determine how children’s health would fare overall. Dr. Golden discovered that the children who had completed the HP program without having had vaccines enjoyed better health than those who had received vaccines, and even more so than those who had only received constitutional homeopathic treatment. In addition to not getting the diseases to which the HP nosodes correspond, these children had fewer subsequent health and behavioral problems.
Similar to someone who survived these diseases in childhood, one who follows the HP protocol allows their immune system to “think” it has moved through each disease, thereby acquiring natural immunity. Unlike someone who had the disease, however, the person taking HP does not suffer from the effects.
“We have trained 192 HP supervisors in North America and around the world,” says Birch, explaining that 96 of those trained currently act as HP supervisors with FHCi, and that 20 of those active supervisors live outside North America. FHCi began an HP study, based on that of Dr. Golden, involving 637 children at the outset. Since the entrance to the study phase finished in December 2014, Birch estimates that about 300 more children have joined the program.
FHCi’s HP program typically takes 44 months to complete, and includes remedies for common childhood diseases currently on the U.S. vaccination schedule. If a family chooses to use an HP remedy not included in the FHCi kit, perhaps for the reason that they plan a trip abroad, the HP supervisor serving that family may order the remedy through the homeopathic pharmacy distributing the kits. The HP supervisor also remains on call to the family in order to provide advice when a minor illness calls for a homeopathic remedy.
In order to educate the community on HP, FHCi holds conferences in several cities each year, in addition to having a social media presence. In May of this year, the organization held two conferences in California, and one in Minnesota in June. FHCi has lots of HP resources on its webpage, www.freeandhealthychildren.org
Whatcott left FHCi in 2014 to form Worldwide Choice, an organization aiming to bring HP into the medical community. “My goal is to form a bridge to licensed providers so they feel confident recommending HP to their patients who choose not to vaccinate,” says Whatcott. “In order to do this, they must be assured of safety and effectiveness.”
With this goal in mind, Worldwide Choice featured researchers from around the world in a 2015 international conference. Whatcott says that she plans to organize another conference in October 2016. The 10 speakers, all MDs, PhDs and DOs, will address the effects of nutrition, emotions, the gut biome and HP upon the immune system. “Worldwide Choice is also engaged in research projects with medical doctors who are committed to offering additional evidence that HP is, indeed, a viable choice for safe immunity,” says Whatcott.
When asked if the United States has moved any closer to accepting HP as an alternative to vaccines, Birch said, “I’m not sure about that. There is so much being bought and sold, and realizing that the current vaccine paradigm has been, for the last 35 years, at every level of government, we are just a small speck on the horizon. Also, this problem is global, and the vaccine companies have their fingers in every country outside our borders.”
Whatcott expresses hope for the future: “I feel that acceptance by conventional medical doctors is key to spreading HP beyond the confines of homeopaths. This will be a slow process, but one that can assist with global change.”
If there were such a thing as homeopathic prophylaxis, where then is the principle of “like cures like”? Which also is the foundation of homeopathy.
The examples you refer to, for example, Hahnemann and Belladonna, has nothing to do whit prophylaxis. This is about being ahead of an outbreak.
Hahnnemann so that most people who became ill had the same symptoms, and matched Belladonna and he gave therefore all this remedies, healthy and sick. When someone were infected, they were already being treated with the right remedie.
This idea of homeopathic prophylaxis is a dangerous idea. It’s not that one can simply take a remedy and believe that they are now protected against a disease, the principle of “like cures like” still applies. Before the various symptoms have appeared, one can not provide the correct homeopathic remedy.
All serious homeopaths should know this!
R.Flemming
What is called homeoprophylaxis has been shown to save lives and prevent much suffering. The argument is really about what to call it, which has to do with how it works. Some have argued that it creates a proving, thus stimulating an immune response. Isaac Golden developed a protocol for using it that was as effective as vaccination, but without the dangerous side effects. We can debate academically what it should be called, but we are past debating whether it works.
HP is what world needs most today. But common people is not aware or not confident about it. Mass awareness programs are the only options to make people understand the fact and the science bejind it. People wants a clear explanation with evidence of how a homeopathic medicine effects the immune system to promote and produce antibodies against the disease.