The New Era of Homeopathy in Brazil

Homeopathy arrived in Brazil in 1840 with a French Doctor, Benoit Mure.  In 1980 Homeopathy was recognized by the Federal Board of Medicine as a medical specialty.¹ In 1992 it was recognized as a Pharmaceutical specialty by the Federal Board of Pharmacy and in 1993, Homeopathy was recognized by the Federal Board of Veterinary Medicine as a Veterinary specialty. Recently in 2008, the Federal Board of Dentistry recognized Homeopathy as a Dentistry specialty. In Brazil, the practitioner homeopath non doctor (therapist) was recognized as a professional in the Ministry of Labour in 2005 and  Homeopathy is allowed to be practiced by the government

In the Public Health, the practice of homeopathy by medical doctors in the Brazilian Unified system of Health was guaranteed by law since 2006 and it still has a limited presence, with only a few homeopathic services in some Brazilian cities.³

In 2007, TEIXEIRA published an article in the Brazilian Medical Education Journal entitled: “Homeopathy: lack of information and prejudice in medical teaching” where the author did research among the medical students and found that 43% of the students did not recognize homeopathy as a “medical specialty”, all of them ignored that it was “available at the public health services” and 64% did not know about its “inclusion in the curriculum of some Medical Schools”. ⁴

Nowadays, even though homeopathy is sought out more as a good option of treatment, the methods of teaching homeopathy in Brazil don´t offer good quality.  They are not based in science, but rather are a mixture of imagination with religion and wrong concepts which are destroying the real understanding of the science of homeopathy. Most of the practitioners did not read the Organon or could not really interpret the aphorisms and also they never learned correctly the homeopathic principles of Hahnemann.

There is a misconception about homeopathy, especially a prejudice from the Medical Community, because of the negative results in experiments that tried to “prove” homeopathy.  Of course the wrong methods were used to test homeopathy. Also, considering the quality of the homeopathic schools in Brazil and the abilities of the practitioners, most of them do not have a basis for scientific discussion. Another obstacle for success of homeopathy is the ego of some homeopaths who are not willing to see the best way to apply homeopathy for the best results.

The limited and wrong concepts do not prepare professionals and if they are not trained in the correct path, they are not capable of really understand how to analyze the whole case and know the prognosis.  As Hahnemann said, “I would like that my words would have the power to correct the abuses that alter homeopathy and still prevent it being as useful as it would be.”²

Professor Vithoulkas offered quality homeopathy courses in classical homeopathy in Brazil in 2014, to bring the seed of knowledge here. After the translations to Portuguese of the first modules, the classes started offering The Organon Course and E-learning Program. The new era of homeopathy with the International Academy of Classical Homeopathy in Brazil has started since then.

It is possible to perceive the excitement and dedication of the students who are attending the courses and there is a great expectation about learning these ideas. The students are willing to change everything they had learned previously and they are very happy with their new ability to understand classical homeopathy.

The E-learning Program is offered in modules for groups and individuals. Now there are two groups attending the course, one in Belo Horizonte and another in São Paulo. We are looking for expansion to other states, since Brazil is a big country. We expect to start new groups in Curitiba very soon.

In the future, we expect that the level of homeopathy in Brazil will be raised and that practice of this science will practice as Hahnemann expected. New practitioners from the International Academy of Classical Homeopathy will be able to relieve pain and suffering and they will be the instruments of God for bringing to patients real and long-lasting cure, as true healers.

REFERENCES:

• Farmacopeia Brasileira. ANVISA. AGENCIA NACIONAL DE VIGILÂNCIA SANITÁRIA. 3 ed. Available from in: < www.anvisa.gov.br/legis> Access on 21 May. 2016.
• MIRANDA, H. C., “HAHNEMANN, o Apóstolo da Medicina Espiritual. 2 ed. Rio de Janeiro: Celd, 1988.
• MONTEIRO, Dalva de Andrade; IRIART, Jorge Alberto Bernstein. Homeopatia no Sistema Único de Saúde: representações dos usuários sobre o tratamento homeopático. Cad. Saúde Pública,  Rio de Janeiro ,  v. 23, n. 8, p. 1903-1912,  Aug.  2007 .   Available from <http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0102-311X2007000800017&lng=en&nrm=iso>. access on  21  May  2016.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0102-311X2007000800017.
• TEIXEIRA, Marcus Zulian. Homeopatia: desinformação e preconceito no ensino médico. Rev. bras. educ. med., Rio de Janeiro ,  v. 31, n. 1, p. 15-20,  Apr.  2007 .   Available from <http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0100-55022007000100003&lng=en&nrm=iso>. access on  21  May  2016.  http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/S0100-55022007000100003