A new report from the World Health Organization, ‘Safety issues in the preparation of homeopathic medicines’, is intended as a support to national regulatory authorities – and to manufacturers of homeopathic medicines - in ensuring the safety and quality of homeopathic medicines. It is hoped that the report will facilitate quality control regulation.

The report has been produced as a result of a number of requests and recommendations of relevant World Health Assembly resolutions, Member States, and international conferences of drug regulatory authorities, and is part of the implementation of the WHO Traditional Medicine Strategy and the WHO Medicines Strategy. This document has been prepared in consultation with more than 400 reviewers from 105 countries.

The document provides definitions of commonly used technical terms in relation to the quality of homeopathic medicines. It aims to provide guidance to Member States on technical aspects of the production and manufacture of homeopathic medicines that potentially have implications for their safety. This is of relevance for establishing national quality standards and specifications for homeopathic medicines, as well as for controlling their quality. The document, however, does not address issues of efficacy or clinical utilization.

Europe has long led the way in setting international standards for safety and quality control of homeopathic medicinal products. ECHAMP welcomes this report and any initiative which increases standards of manufacture of homeopathic medicine world wide.

Download the document from the WHO website 

Karen Chapman
ECHAMP PR and Communications Consultant