In late October, a large-scale international homeopathy research conference, “Groundbreaking Science: Homeopathy and the Future of Global Health,” was held at UConn Health in Connecticut – a major sponsor of the event. UConn Health is home to the University of Connecticut’s medical and dental schools and its sprawling academic medical center. Nearly 500 participants from 25 different countries (and six of the seven continents) attended and heard 41 research presentations over three days.

Why the Conference Was Held

It’s well documented that over 300,000 physicians use homeopathy in their practices around the world while millions of Americans and more than half of a billion consumers worldwide rely on homeopathy for their healthcare. It is also clear that the U.S. is facing many healthcare challenges – from infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance to aging populations, multimorbidity, polypharmacy, sustainability, and environmental factors. Groundbreaking Science: Homeopathy and the Future of Global Health was organized to examine the growing body of evidence around homeopathy and to consider the role it might play in addressing many of these urgent concerns. This video presentation of the conference’s lead speaker, Dr. Gary Smyth MD (U.K.) summarizes the focus of the conference well:

Can Homeopathy Help?

It is clear from a close examination of the evidence presented at UConn Health that homeopathic medicine holds the potential to provide the medical community with valuable adjunctive therapies. The conference examined observational studies, pragmatic randomized control trials, randomized, double-blind placebo trials, double-blind placebo-controlled randomized clinical trials, meta-analyses, and systematic reviews of homeopathic treatment. Several studies, including the Bristol Hospital (UK) studies and the EPI3-LASER, help bring focus to the value of homeopathic medicine for the healthcare system.  These are two of a number of such studies showing that patients who consult a homeopathic GP for some of the most prevalent and burdensome conditions in general practice cost less (20%), get better at the same rate, and use fewer drugs (including significantly lower consumption of antibiotics and antipyretic/anti-inflammatory drugs) compared to patients consulting GPs prescribing conventional medicine only. The absence of toxicity and the strong safety record of these medicines also support their use.

The conference also examined emerging evidence that homeopathic products may be helpful in mitigating the impact of climate change on agricultural crops – making plants more bio-resilient – while also reducing the need for products like herbicides and other agricultural chemicals known to cause environmental harm. Though there is much more research needed in this field, a number of initial studies suggest significant potential.

Are you new to homeopathy?
If so, here are some basics to learn more
as well as this video: