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Greetings all.

I thought this report might interest you.

Please find below a newly produced patient survey report on our project at Kendu Bay, Nyanza Province, Kenya where we have been treating about 200 HIV patients with homeopathy and natural medicine.

The document will also be available soon from our website www.abhalight.org in publishable form.
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Survey of Patients Using
Homeopathy Medicine and
"Great Health, Naturally" Nutritional Protocol

November 2007
Submitted by Sr. Didi Ananda Ruchira, D.I.Hom.,
Director Abha Light Foundation, Kenya
P.O. Box 471-00606 Nairobi Kenya
tel: (254 20) 445 0181 mobile: 0733 895466 / 0723-869133
email: info@abhalight.org
website: www. abhalight.org

Introduction
At Kendu Bay, Nyanza Province, Kenya, Abha Light Foundation (ALF) is partnering with Mothers & Orphans Rural Community AIDS Organization (MORCAO) in treating HIV adults and children with homeopathic medicine and a special immune-boosting nutritional protocol based on the information in the book Great Health, Naturally! (This book is published by ALF and is available through the head office in Nairobi)
The project is funded by SIDA through AMREF's "Maanisha" project of upscaling services to HIV patients and Global Fund.
Kendu Bay is located on the shores of Lake Victoria. The area is economically depressed. A high percentage of villagers are HIV+ and many cannot afford more than one meal a day.
About 170 patients are regularly taking the GHN protocol items. They come every two weeks to pick up their items.
More than 200 HIV+ and non-HIV patients have been attending the bi-monthly homeopathic clinic. Most of these HIV+ clients are already on ART medicines. Despite that, they were still suffering a variety of HIV-related and non-related ailments, including, it appeared, side-effects of ART, mainly due to lack of food from poverty.
We started monitoring about 70 clients. However a number of them didn't return or came only irregularly to clinics for follow-ups. ALF's experience in this is that often when patients feel better they don't feel it necessary to return to a clinic. We had no way to compel attendance, so 26 clients were dropped from the below statistics.
The period of monitoring was from when the programme was initiated in March 2007 to September 2007, or about 6 months.
Introduction to Homeopathy
Homeopathy is a old system of medicine. It is recognized by WHO as a world system of alternative medicine. It has some relation to herbal medicine, but it is based on a clear philosophy and laws of healing and a special method of preparation of the medicines. Because the medicines are prepared in a certain way, they are completely safe, non-toxic and effective.
Homeopathic medicine is highly individualized, best given by prescription after a consultation with a trained practitioner.
Introduction to the Great Health, Naturally! (GHN) protocol
Great Health, Naturally!, a book published by ALF, outlines a specific nutritional-based immune boosting protocol. This protocol is different than merely giving foodstuffs for good nutrition and calories alone. It is a way of giving specific phyto-nutrients that are targeting the immune system.
The specialities of the protocol are that all the ingredients are readily and cheaply available, making it affordable and accessible for self-maintenance of any patient. The protocol is not promoting a particular branded or expensive product or medicament.
The GHN protocol is based on classic Naturopathic approach to health. In this approach several factors are combined in order to give the body the ability to heal itself. Naturopathy is the most ancient system of medicine and deals mainly with non-drug approach using techniques of detoxification of the liver, kidneys, intestines, skin, lungs, lymphatic and systems. After detoxification, the body is in condition to accept proper nutrition and phyto-medicines that will boost the immune system effectively.
The GHN protocol as given at Kendu Bay includes:
1 teaspoon of pilipili dawa ("hot medicine") daily
this excellent "hotsauce" recipe includes chillies, vinegar, garlic, ginger, turmeric, fenugreek, cinnamon and molasses.
It regularizes body temperature, increases appetite and digestion, lowers the pH in the colon thereby inhibiting candida, unfriendly flora and virus growth
½ brazil nut daily
the most concentrated selenium food source in nature. ½ nut provide a full RDA of this necessary anti-oxidant
1 teaspoon of psyllium husks daily
an excellent fiber, used to regularize and clean the bowels
½ cup of fermented cabbage juice daily
an excellent source of probiotics useful in regularizing the bowels and inhibiting candida and unfriendly flora growth
1 cup of Whole Lemon-Olive Oil Drink weekly
detoxifies the liver and lymphatic system, reduces neuropathy, wasting syndrome
The Patient Survey
In October, 8 months into our programme, we conducted a patient survey. (see Appendix) The survey was based on subjective, as well as objective, assessment of the patient's health.
For objective assessment, the CD4 count before beginning clinic and present.
For subjective, we used 2 sets of scoring and the patients own assessment of how they now feel.
1. Karnofsky Score of 0-100.
2. MYMOP Symptomatic Score. of 1-6.
The Statistics
69 participated in the patient survey
62 (90%) were women
HIV+
52 (75%) of the participants of the survey are HIV+
45 (86%) of the HIV+ are women
The age range is from 22 - 57 years, the mean age is 38 years
Of those who are HIV+
33 (63%) are on ART and other prescribed OI medications
19 (37%) are not on ART or using any other medications regularly
Of those on ARTs
The average time is 21 months, with 13 have been using ART for a year or less. Due to the small amount of time attending the clinic or on ART or both, some of those scores were rejected as inconclusive. 31 HIV+ participants had relevant CD4 count information we could include in this survey.
Negative Side Effects of ART
23 (70%) of participants using ART reported side-effects and other health problems beginning after starting ART.
INCREASED: CD4 counts
CD4 counts ranged from 21 to 1800 with an average of CD4 count of 398.
The average increase of the CD4 after attending clinic was CD4 count of189
The average attendance to the clinic was 6 months.
Only 2 people showed a decrease in CD4 counts in that time.
IMPROVED: Non-ART HIV+ patients
19 HIV+ patients were not using ART. They too showed the same improvements in CD4 counts, symptomatic improvement scores, Karnofsky scores and ability to return to work. From this we can conclude that the benefits felt by the patients are a result of our programmes
INCREASED: All participants ability to work
33 of the total 69 participants, both HIV+ and - ,reported they were not able to work before beginning clinic
Only 1 is not able to work now. The rest (99%) have returned to work.
INCREASED: All participants Karnofsky score
Before starting, the score averaged 50, after clinic the average is 80, which represents an increase of "30" and a change from incapacity to ability to look after oneself.
50 = "Frequent support needed and medicines"
80 = "Normal with an effort, moderate Symptoms"
INCREASED symptomatic improvement
The average feeling of well being for symptomatic improvement on a scale of 1-6, went from a mean score of 2 to a score of 5
2 = "severe, all the time, intense, strong, incapacitating, overwhelming, 'I' am in pain"
5 ="noticeable, mild, irritating, occasionally, part time, an inconvenience, 'it' hurts a bit".
Summary
A number of patients, 70%, reported symptoms and problems starting after they began ART, this coincides with the observation of our practitioners that many patients suffer from the side-effects of ART or that despite being on ART, their opportunistic infections have not abated.
However, after a few months on nutritional therapy and homeopathic medicine, patients improve considerably. This is reflected in the increase in their CD4 count.
Several patients despite being on ARTs for long periods showed dramatic leaps in their CD4 counts after a period of nutritional and homeopathic therapy.
· ART patient: 60 months on ART went from a CD4 count of 147 to 348 after 8 months on our programme.
· A patient on ART for 36 months went from a CD4 count of 500 to 1000 after 8 months.
· ART patient: 36 months on ART went from a CD4 count of 400 to 900 after 8 months.
· ART patient: 24 months on ART went from a CD4 count of 500 to 800 after 6 months.
Non-ART HIV+ patients also showed the same improvements in CD4 counts, symptomatic improvement scores, Karnofsky scores and ability to return to work. From this we can conclude that the benefits felt by the patients are a result of our programmes
· non-ART patient: CD4 count of 200 to 420 after 4 months in our programme.
· non-ART patient: CD4 count of 823 to 1085 after 5 months.
Patients who were having difficulties to work, now are able to go back to work. Instead of merely struggling with surviving the HIV disease, they are able to return to an active life.
The cost of this programme is only about Ksh. 300 (£2.30, ?3.40 ) per month per patient making it extremely cost effective in view of the excellent results.
Conclusion
We conclude that the patients at the Kendu Bay clinic have, overall, benefited from the use of homeopathic and natural medicines in improving their health conditions and overall well being.
We feel these scores are significant, especially in view of the low-cost of the programme. The Great Health, Naturally! protocols and the usefulness of homeopathy in treating HIV-related conditions deserve to be studied further.
We recommend that this programme can be adopted by government and civil health care programmes nationwide.
Appendix: Questionnaire and Scoring Methods
Karnofsky Score
In medicine, performance status is an attempt to quantify cancer patients' general well-being.
The Karnofsky Performance Scale Index allows patients to be classified as to their functional impairment. This can be used to compare effectiveness of different therapies and to assess the prognosis in individual patients. The lower the Karnofsky score, the worse the survival for most serious illnesses.
The Karnofsky score runs from 100 to 0, where 100 is "perfect" health and 0 is death. It is named after Dr David A. Karnofsky, who described the scale with Dr Joseph H. Burchenal in 1949.
Able to carry on normal activity and to work; no special care needed.
100 Completely Well;
90 Normal, few mild Symptoms;
80 Normal with an effort, moderate Symptoms
Unable to work; able to live at home and care for most personal needs; varying amount of assistance needed.
70 Look after self but cant work;
60 Needs a bit assistance, mostly self sufficient,
50 Frequent support needed and medicines;
Unable to care for self; requires equivalent of institutional or hospital care; disease may be progressing rapidly.
40 Disabled, special care needed;
30 Severely disabled, hospital care needed, no acute danger;
20 seriously sick in hospital;
10 dying;
0 dead
MYMOP: Symptomatic improvement score
The Measure Your Medical Outcome Profile (MYMOP) is a simple instrument designed as a patient generated scoring to assess both conventional and complementary therapies.
Symptom Score
6 completely better, no symptom anymore;
5 noticeable, mild, irritating, occasionally, part time, an inconvenience, 'it' hurts a bit
4 most of the time, cant easily ignore, bit restrictive, 'it' bothers me a lot'
3 constant, all of the time, cant ignore, restricts activity at times, 'My' pain is..
2 severe, all the time, intense, strong, incapacitating, overwhelming, 'I' am in pain
1 critical, intense, overwhelming, all consuming, 'help me', desperate
The Questionnaire used in this survey
This questionnaire was a simple survey to assess the progress and well being of the clients.
1. M/F, Age, HIV Status
2. Are you using ART
For how long have you been on ART
Other medicines
For how long have you been on other medicines
How have you improved using ART
Did other problems start after beginning ART
3. How long have you been attending the Abha Light clinic
Are you using homeopathic medicines
Are you on the Great Health, Naturally! nutritional protocol
4. CD4 count before starting Abha Light
CD4 count now
5. Were you able to work?
Are you able to work now?
6. What was your Karnofsky score before Abha Light
What is your Karnofsky score now?
7. What was 1st major symptom that disturbed you before Abha Light?
How long was it disturbing you
Give a score to how you felt before Abha Light
What is your score now
8. What was 2nd major symptom that disturbed you before Abha Light?
How long was it disturbing you
Give a score to how you felt before Abha Light
What is your score now
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