Improving the Success of Homeopathy 2, London, 15–16 April 1999 Taking homeopathic research into the next millennium
The theme of the conference was demonstrating and improving the effectiveness of homeopathy as applied in `real world' circumstances, rather than its ef®cacy in ideal circumstances.
Abstract
An international research conference on homeopathy took place in London on 15±16 April 1999. The conference was organised by the Academic Unit of the Royal London Homoeopathic Hospital and centred on the theme `Improving the Success of Homoeopathy 2: Demonstrating and developing effectiveness'. The conference was attended by 208 people from 29 countries, over 25% more than the previous conference in the series, held in January 1997, making it one of the largest dedicated international homeopathic research conferences ever. This underlines the increasing recognition of the importance of research in the homeopathic community. The theme of the conference was demonstrating and improving the effectiveness of homeopathy as applied in `real world' circumstances, rather than its ef®cacy in ideal circumstances. Despite increasing scienti®c evidence supporting homeopathy, and increasing public demand, there is a world-wide perception within public sector, health insurance and managed care organisations that homeopathy is a luxury with ill-de®ned bene®ts. But if homeopathy offers effective, safe, low cost treatments for common conditions it can make a creative contribution to the global healthcare funding crisis. Many are convinced that homeopathy has the potential to make such a contribution, but more high quality research is needed to demonstrate it.