Swim to help homeopathic AIDs clinic
9:00am Friday 13th April 2012 in News
Anne Tottingham, front, with friends Sandra Salmons, Joan Gifford, Sharron Hudson and Marilyn Newell at Westbury Pool, where they are doing sponsored swim this Sunday
A homeopath and reiki teacher in Edington is planning a fundraising swim with friends, to raise funds for a volunteer project in Botswana which she will join next month.
Anne Tottingham, a practicing homeopath for 16 years, will be working with AIDS sufferers in Botswana, through the Maun Homeopathy Project, for seven weeks.
She and six friends will be doing a sponsored swim at Westbury Swimming Pool on Sunday, to raise money for the project, which started in 2002.
“They have done a lot of good work out there, so, when the offer to join them came into my inbox, I decided to go for it,” she said.
“They need funds for on-going costs, to pay for the clinic and support the homeopaths out there, although I am paying for my own travel.
“Homeopathy gets a bad press in this country, but it is popular elsewhere.
“We examine people’s emotional, physical and mental wellbeing and devise a remedy to help them heal.
“I have expertise to offer to help people, but also a lot to learn.
“This is the first time I have done something like this and I am looking forward to it.”
Homeopaths use dilutions of substances in water as remedies for various symptoms of illness and discomfort.
To donate to the project, visit its website or sponsor Mrs Tottingham at www.justgiving.com/Anne -Tottingham.
Comments(26)
GaryDougill
says...
11:19am Fri 13 Apr 12
jonathanmsn
says...
11:47am Fri 13 Apr 12
If people want to help African people with HIV and AIDS, they would be better funding local clinics to purchase medicines that will help.
GuyChapman
says...
1:43pm Fri 13 Apr 12
Fred the Bulbous Squidge
says...
2:23pm Fri 13 Apr 12
The "dilutions of substances in water" are typically so great that none of the original substance remains. This is pure quackery, promoted by people who ought to know better but seem to prefer to take an arrogant "I know better" view in the face of overwhelming evidence against them.
beelzebub3
says...
2:51pm Fri 13 Apr 12
Lagada?
says...
5:08pm Fri 13 Apr 12
Bobster001
says...
5:42pm Fri 13 Apr 12
redrum
says...
6:20pm Fri 13 Apr 12
JonGrenoble
says...
7:48pm Fri 13 Apr 12
VelcroEd
says...
9:25pm Fri 13 Apr 12
atko67
says...
10:28pm Fri 13 Apr 12
GuyChapman
says...
11:56pm Fri 13 Apr 12
VelcroEd wrote:Homeopathy can't complement ARVs any more than Smarties can. Homeopathy is abject nonsense on a stick with bells on the end.
I have to admit that I initially felt angry that AIDS could be treated with mumbo jumbo medicine however I looked into the website which states..."The health services in Botswana provide ARVs for most people living with HIV & AIDS and we support this programme, but there are toxic side effects including liver deterioration, muscle wastage, peripheral neuropathy, central nervous system disturbances, and inhibition of blood cell production. Homeopathy is a state registered medicine in Botswana which can complement the ARV programme".
sheetpants
says...
1:31am Sat 14 Apr 12
VelcroEd wrote:The only thing that homoeopathy can successfully supplement is the income of a charlatan.
I have to admit that I initially felt angry that AIDS could be treated with mumbo jumbo medicine however I looked into the website which states..."The health services in Botswana provide ARVs for most people living with HIV & AIDS and we support this programme, but there are toxic side effects including liver deterioration, muscle wastage, peripheral neuropathy, central nervous system disturbances, and inhibition of blood cell production. Homeopathy is a state registered medicine in Botswana which can complement the ARV programme".
http://www.quackwatc
h.org/01QuackeryRela
tedTopics/homeo.html
http://www.guardian.
co.uk/science/2007/n
ov/16/sciencenews.g2
http://www.medicalne
wstoday.com/releases
/224678.php
skepticat
says...
9:39am Sat 14 Apr 12
Instead we have a nurse making a generalised claim that patients have improved "both physically and psychologically", pointing out that the homeopaths have had time to listen and respond to people as individuals and adding "it’s filled a huge, huge gap because the medical personnel do not have the time".
There is a lesson in there somewhere but people who have already invested too much of themselves, their time and their money into the nonsense that is homeopathy are too blinkered to see it and still cling to their delusion that it is the homeopathic products rather than the time and the basic human empathy and understanding shown by the "practitioners" (counsellors might be a better word) that makes patients feel better.
Shame on you, wiltshire.co.uk, for your irresponsible promotion of this pre-science cult therapy.
anarchic teapot
says...
10:41am Sat 14 Apr 12
VelcroEd wrote:Except that it's not a medicine. Money spent promoting homeopathy, which is merely an elaboragte placebo, would be better spent on effective methods of alleviating side effects and providing psychological support.
I have to admit that I initially felt angry that AIDS could be treated with mumbo jumbo medicine however I looked into the website which states..."The health services in Botswana provide ARVs for most people living with HIV & AIDS and we support this programme, but there are toxic side effects including liver deterioration, muscle wastage, peripheral neuropathy, central nervous system disturbances, and inhibition of blood cell production. Homeopathy is a state registered medicine in Botswana which can complement the ARV programme".
Quackery has no place in real healthcare.
old 'arry
says...
6:44pm Sat 14 Apr 12
a. Most financial aid sent to Africa is misused and ends up in numbered Swiss bank accounts and
b. If Africans can't keep it in their trousers, why should I pick up the bill?
CatherinaB
says...
7:13pm Sat 14 Apr 12
sheetpants
says...
1:57am Sun 15 Apr 12
old 'arry wrote:Are they your only objections?
I'm sorry. I dig deep into my pockets to help Feed the Children and other NGO's aimed at kids, but please don't ask me to contribute to something like this because:
a. Most financial aid sent to Africa is misused and ends up in numbered Swiss bank accounts and
b. If Africans can't keep it in their trousers, why should I pick up the bill?
Infection rates are particularly high in Africa due to Catholicism. It doesn't boil down to a simple lack of self control.
Are you also aware that your assertation that "Africans can't keep it in their trousers" makes you sound like a racist?
notscot
says...
11:18pm Sun 15 Apr 12
sheetpants wrote:There is a disproportionately higher rate of aids within the African populace than with other races.
old 'arry wrote: I'm sorry. I dig deep into my pockets to help Feed the Children and other NGO's aimed at kids, but please don't ask me to contribute to something like this because: a. Most financial aid sent to Africa is misused and ends up in numbered Swiss bank accounts and b. If Africans can't keep it in their trousers, why should I pick up the bill?Are they your only objections? Infection rates are particularly high in Africa due to Catholicism. It doesn't boil down to a simple lack of self control. Are you also aware that your assertation that "Africans can't keep it in their trousers" makes you sound like a racist?
This isn't racism - it's a fact. Due to a number of factors - education, religious belief, raids by warring factions - government support/action - etc. etc - there has been an explosion in the number of adults diagnosed with aids and the number of childen with the disease is at an all-time high.
Yes - charitable contributions can be syphoned by the corrupt - but it's just and lazy to claim that the problem is caused because he male populace "can't keep it in their tousers".
Stupid - not racist.
notscot
says...
11:21pm Sun 15 Apr 12
sheetpants
says...
1:34am Mon 16 Apr 12
It does not make him sound stupid, it makes him sound racist. If you say "Africans can't keep it in their trousers" you sound racist.
notscot
says...
7:08am Mon 16 Apr 12
sheetpants wrote:Again - not necessarily racist. Africans live in Africa. The huge populace of Africa has more Aids sufferers than any other country - sad fact.
He specified Africans not the "male populace" (still racist), or "some of the men". That is the bit that makes him sound racist. And 'sound' is key here (despite numerous other racist-sounding comments he has left on other threads, some of which can still be read).
It does not make him sound stupid, it makes him sound racist. If you say "Africans can't keep it in their trousers" you sound racist.
In fact - I was remiss in mentioning only the male poulace and the children - should you not be reporting me for sexism?
And your comment stating that it was due to Catholicism - that makes YOU all the more intolerant (I'd dismiss it as grave silliness - but that's just me.)
- wonder if anyone's gone running to the great censor in the sky about your remarks? People in glass houses, and all that...
skepticat
says...
3:29pm Mon 16 Apr 12
More to the point, neither has any homeopath come to defend the misguided venture being reported here and nobody from this website has appeared to respond to the comments which are - without exception - opposed to it.
For shame.
GuyChapman
says...
6:01pm Mon 16 Apr 12
old 'arry wrote:You may not be aware of the role the West has played in escalating the extent of the AIDS epidemic in Africa. Ben Goldacre has written at length about the likes of Matthias Rath, who believes that his vitamin pills can cure AIDS, and who has worked to underpin the AIDS denialist agenda in Africa. The infection rate is also increased by the actions of the Catholic church in undermining safe sex education and provision.
I'm sorry. I dig deep into my pockets to help Feed the Children and other NGO's aimed at kids, but please don't ask me to contribute to something like this because:
a. Most financial aid sent to Africa is misused and ends up in numbered Swiss bank accounts and
b. If Africans can't keep it in their trousers, why should I pick up the bill?
The West definitely bears part of the blame, but the way to fix it is not to impose yet more Western quackery.
Lagada?
says...
1:28pm Tue 17 Apr 12
old 'arry wrote:Care to provide any citation for that nonsense you've spouted.
I'm sorry. I dig deep into my pockets to help Feed the Children and other NGO's aimed at kids, but please don't ask me to contribute to something like this because:
a. Most financial aid sent to Africa is misused and ends up in numbered Swiss bank accounts and
b. If Africans can't keep it in their trousers, why should I pick up the bill?
If only 1% of the money donated to aid (and I mean real aid not this quackery) made it there, then it makes a difference.
And even if previous efforts had failed (and I don't think they have) how is that the fault of the child born with HIV?
Even IF "Africans can't keep it in their trousers" which sounds like pure prejudice, how is that the fault of the starving child?
Your comments mark you as an amoral idiot.
anarchic teapot says...
11:14am Fri 13 Apr 12
If the patients also feel the need for a placebo, then give them a cup of tea: it's cheaper. You can use the homeopathic sugar pills to sweeten if, if you like.