Alternative Health Care - Introduction

Alternative health care refers to health practices that generally do not conform to or take after conventional health practices. Almost all the alternative health care practices have been in use for centuries, having been the only health care practices available to man kind before the development of conventional health care practices.

The practice of alternative health care has been either supported or criticed by mainstream scientists and physician alike. Medical reserchers have been involved in debates over whether alternative health care practices should actually be considered and be incorporated as part of mainstream conventional health care. They argue that an effective health care is that which has been adequately tested, found to be safe and scientifically proven to be so. Others insist that alternative health care should be viewed as purely experimental. A group of scientists actually made a proposal in 2009 to close the American National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM),arguing that majority of the studies undertaken on alternative health care practices showed little or no positive effects.

On the other hand, those in surpport of alternative health care practices argue that various alternative health care practices are very effective in treating varied major and minor health conditions and didseases. A study conducted in 1998 in the US revealed that the use of alternative health care rose to 42.1% in 1997 from 33.8% recorded in 1990. Corresponding results were recorded in the UK in the same period. The use of alternative health care practices still form the basic health care systems in most developing countries. This fact is attributed to several factors such as lack of adequate resources to provide conventional health care, poverty, lack of adequate conventional health care facilities and the entrenched belief in the effectiveness of alternative health care practices.

The America's National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), through its various studies, has developed a classification system for the alaternative health care practices available into five major categories, which are:

- General medicines - These are mostly therapies that can incorporate other alternative health care practices.

- Mind and Body medicines - These medicines direct their action to the mind, with the argument that the mind has a direct effect on the functions of the whole body.

- Biological practices - These practices employ the use of natural resources such as herbs and food to achieve healing.

- Energy medicines - These are biofield and bioelectromagnetic therapies that employ the use of electromagneic fields to influence the energy fields that penetrate the body.

- Faith medicine - These are based on prayer and belief, in which super natural powers eradicate disease and other health conditions.

The popularity of alternative health care practices can be seen in the number of people turning to alternative health care medications. In the US for example, many people visit conventional treatment centers for diagnostic purposes then turn to alternative medications they feel have the capability to heal them. This has led to the incorporation of the alternative health care medications, otherwise refered to as complementary alternative medications (CAM) into the mainstream conventional health care practice. A number of conventionaly trained doctors also undertake courses in different alternative health care institutions established, mainly in the US.