LESSON 2

Lesson 2: Quackeries and Alternative

Health Care Modalities
Objectives:
❑ Explain the nature and dangers of
quackery;

❑ Report fraudelent health services; and

❑ Explain the different kinds of

complementary and alternative health
care modalities
HEALTH 10
“Never try to beat a man at his own
game.”

—P.T. Barnum
Table of contents

01 02 03
Section Section Section
COMPLEMENTARY AND
WHAT SHOULD YOU HARMFUL PHYSICAL AND
ALTERNATIVE HEALTH CARE
KNOW “QUACKERY” PSYCHOLOGICAL EFFECTS
MODALITIES
 Introduction
Everybody is a health consumer and that includes
you. As a consumer, you may be seen as a
potential target for fraudulent services and
activities. However, by being armed with the
necessary information and skills, you can protect
yourself from becoming a victim of health fraud or
quackery.
Quackery can be found anywhere and is
offered to anybody, promoting effective help for
many health issues, including weight loss, skin
whitening, hair growth, joint pains, and others.
They target those with serious conditions who are
desperate to try all medications to get well.
01
WHAT SHOULD YOU
KNOW “QUACKERY”
QUACKERY

Do you know what quackery means?

■ “Quack” is defined as an ignorant

pretender to medical skill;
■ one who professes to have
knowledge or skill concerning
subjects of which he/she is
ignorant;
■ An empiric or impostor in medicine.
■ A quack professes to be a doctor
when he/she is not.
 QUACKERY

Is a form of a health fraud in the advertisement, promotion,

or sale of products and services that have not been
scientifically proven safe and effective.
A quack, therefore, is an individual that has little or no
professional qualifications to practice medicine. He/She
pretentiously uses meaningless medical jargon and relies on
scare tactics, paranoid accusations, and quick fixes. This
includes anything involve throwing the overpromotion in the
field of health.
 Health quackeries is
characterized to be:

1. It is progressive.
2. It is a big business.
3. It is for an incurable
conditions.
4. It multiplies fast.
Here are some reasons why
quackery persists and seems
to work:
➢ IGNORANCE
➢ PLACEBO EFFECT
➢ SELF-LIMITING CONDITIONS
➢ SLEIGH ON HAND/USE OF MAGIC
TRICK
Types of Quackery
❖ Medical Quackery
❖ Nutrition Quackery
❖ Device Quackery
02
HARMFUL PHYSICAL AND
PSYCHOLOGICAL
EFFECTS
People should be educated
that when they patronize
health quackery they face
economic exploitation, risk
injury or death, place
themselves beyond reach of
consumer protection laws,
and help sustain quack
operations that will exploit
other health consumers in
the future.
The harm done by quackery may be further
categorized as:

Economic farm Psychological harm

Direct harm Societal harm

03
COMPLEMENTARY AND
ALTERNATIVE HEALTH
CARE MODALITIES
Filipinos have deep seated practice of
traditional medicine as an alternative
modality for treating and preventing
diseases. Even in these modern times,
where information and advanced
science has greatly progressed,
traditional medicine is still embraced by
Filipinos especially in rural areas.
However, the FDA issued an advisory
warning the consumers against the
procurement and consumption of a
wide array of products, including
cosmetics and personal care products,
herbal products, slimming products,
and insect control products without
proper authorization from the agency.
Herbal Medicine
The DOH through its Traditional Health
Program has endorsed ten (10) medicinal
plants to be used as herbal medicines in the
Philippines due to its health benefits.
Medicinal plants can be used as part of a
salad, herbal teas, herbal tinctures, and
supplements.
 Below are different
therapies that are still
evident today:
➢ Acupuncture
➢ Ventosa Massage Cupping Therapy
➢ Reflexology
➢ Naturopathy