...require then to eat it with bitter herbs

The subject of herbal therapy is always 'hot' in Indonesia. As I have noted before, we frequently receive questions about AIDS 'cures'. There's now an ongoing discussion in the Healthcare Journalists mail list here, about suggestions, made on a TV program, that cervical cancer can be cured by herbal therapy.

I'm more than a little interested in this topic, because the wife of my driver (who after more than ten years service has become more of a family member) is now suffering from late stage cervical cancer. She has been 'seen' at the Dharmais Cancer Hospital, but it seems that either the cost of treatment was deemed too high, or perhaps the doctors there 'raised their hands' - I don't know and I don't like to press too hard. Anyway, the family decided to rely on herbal therapy.

The discussion on the mail list was started by Dr Erik Tapan, well known as the 'Internet Doctor', among other reasons for starting a mail list for doctors more than a decade ago, I think. He reported that a herbalist on the TV program maintained that the 'jamu' he was promoting was effective and safe. But what upset Dr Erik was that a doctor from the Indonesian Cancer Foundation (YKI), who appeared on the program as an expert, did not refute these claims, giving the viewer that impression that YKI supports the use of herbal therapy for cervical cancer.

This triggered a defensive response from one herbalist, who questioned the objectivity of Dr Erik. He claimed, as we often hear in connection with AIDS, 'God did not forget to create medicines for humankind.' If He creates an illness, He will also create a cure.

The discussion continues. Dr Erik has made the point (which makes me weep when I think of my driver's wife) that relatively simple conventional treatment can cure more than 96% of cases of cervical cancer found at an early stage. But this cure rate drops off rapidly as cancer progresses, to below 20% at stage IV, and that only after expensive and most unpleasant chemotherapy or radiation.

Another responder (an oncologist) noted that he hates to see his patients who are diagnosed with treatable Stage II cervical cancer leave, and return later after herbal therapy, having progressed to stage IV.

"Alternative" therapies always have an edge here. They are cheaper, more accessible, and the herbalists usually do a much better job of communicating than most doctors - no five minute examinations for them! And they often, perhaps not explicitly, promise a cure. As for cervical cancer, so also for AIDS.

Of course, prevention of both conditions is cheap and simple: condoms for HIV, Pap smear for cervical cancer, Sadly neither are commonly used...

Babé