Homeopathy in the treatment of COVID-19

An Extraordinary GIRI Meeting took place on the 26 and 27 of November 2020. Due to the current situation, it was held on the ZOOM platform. It regarded the clinical and basic research on COVID-19 and the coronavirus exclusively. The meeting was organized in partnership with the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) and the International Research Group on Very Low Dosis and High Dilution Effects (GIRI) as a pre-event to the V International Homeopathy Workshop of UFRJ, planned for 2-4 December 2021. During a pandemic, when there is a general lack of workers, equipment, and medicines, any kind of treatment capable of maintaining or improving people’s health should be considered by all medical facilities. Therefore, the GIRI meeting aimed to collect, discuss, and disseminate knowledge and medical experience gathered by homeopathy researchers and doctors around the world regarding the possibility of treating COVID-19 with homeopathy. The meeting lasted two days and was visited by a large number of participants from Brazil, India, Russia, Belgium, Hong Kong, Switzerland, and England, gathering so researchers, professionals, and many students from different fields of expertise, e.g. pharmacology, medicine, biology, physics, veterinary, chemistry. In total, 11 abstracts were approved by a Scientific Committee and presented in a 30-60 min oral contribution. The meeting was interactive, offering space for questions, answers, and for many discussions concerning the potential of homeopathy in the context of COVID-19. The conference provided the possibility to better understand the different homeopathic approaches in the treatment of COVID-19, such as the use of nosodes (prepared from virus particles), that showed a promising immunomodulatory and prophylactic potential. Further, the preliminary analysis of the Clificol COVID-19 support project was presented, revealing a vast international panorama concerning the use of homeopathy in different countries. There were other contributions regarding the use of homeopathy in adults and children for the treatment of COVID-19. To disseminate even further the findings presented at the Extraordinary GIRI Meeting 2020 related to the role of homeopathy in the COVID-19 pandemic, we are launching this special issue of the International Journal of High Dilution Research (IJHDR).