WORLD PARKINSON'S DAY 2026

April 11^th, 2026, is World Parkinson’s Day and we will be inundated with messages asking for money.

The appeals will be sincere, and will tell us that there is no “cure” for Parkinson’s (true), we are close to a breakthrough (not true), and the appealers need lots more money to find and create a “cure”.

I disagree!

Yes, we need money for research, but not to find a “cure”.

We know most of the causes of neurodegeneration and neuroinflammation, so we know most of the causes of Parkinson’s disease.

Given this knowledge, which seems to be ignored by most Western Allopathic Medical (WAM) practitioners and researchers, research funds, amounting to many $millions each year, could be better distributed to be of greater benefit to those of us diagnosed with a dreadful “disease” that is “progressive degenerative and irreversible”.

WHAT DO WE NEED NOW?

Parkinson’s associations around the world estimate that over ten million people have been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. This does not include those in the prodromal phase and/or undiagnosed.

This represents over ten million people living with fear and misery, perhaps unnecessarily.

It is time to look beyond the strictures of the WAM view of one disease, one cause and one “cure”. In a world staggering under the burden of chronic illness, with ever-increasing rates

of Parkinson’s disease and related neurodegenerative disorders, we have a responsibility to

put aside preconceived ideas, tunnel vision, dogmatic commercial propaganda and bigotry to fully explore all aetiological pathways leading to diagnosis with Parkinson’s disease, and all rational, non-toxic strategies to reverse those processes.

Vision

We need:

• to look beyond the paradigm of cause-disease-cure to explore a broader concept of wellness creation becoming more powerful than disease creation and maintenance;

• to embrace all forms of medicine and wellness strategies as part of a cooperative and powerful move towards a healthier and happier society.

Research

We need:

• analysis of the benefits or harm of all food groups and preparation processes on our health through life;

• benefits of cell hydration and hypothalamic support;

• extensive analysis of the aetiological pathways already known and others that may become significant during aetiological research;

• independent investigation of environmental toxins, removed from the control or influence of the manufacturers and vested interest;

• lifestyle strategies for wellness and how best to construct education campaigns to encourage the general population to live well;

• practitioner/patient relationships that help or harm;

• much more.

Leadership

We need:

• Illness has people like Michael J Fox, Clyde Campbell and Liz Cantor dedicating themselves to improving lives of those living with Parkinson’s disease and ongoing research. This leadership, altruistic and with the best of intentions, is based on the premise that Parkinson’s disease is a discrete and individual disease and that only WAM can find a “cure”.

• We need people of this stature to promote the concept of wellness and to help raise funds for the research above.

• Without such leadership, we will struggle to move out of the dominance of “cure profitability” strategies.

Innovation

We need:

• a new look at evidence. The “Gold Standard” for evidence promoted by WAM is a double-blind, randomised, placebo-controlled trial with a large population. However, such trials are open to manipulation and abuse and, because of cost, are often short-term. Furthermore, many wellness strategies (e.g. dietary changes) do not lend themselves to such trials;

• a wide range of highly-qualified people from Western allopathic medicine and complementary/alternative medicine (CAM) to develop innovative research methods that will provide realistic and reproducible results;

• new ways to interpret past and current trials that do not necessarily prove what is claimed;

• innovative ways to reach people at risk of neurodegeneration in order to alleviate the burden of disease on them, their families and society;

• innovative use of social media and public broadcasters to foster an attitude of wellness as we age instead of an expectation of illness;

• new Centres of Excellence focusing on wellness strategies and self-help strategies in place of those teaching us how to “live with illness”.

Discourse

We need:

• open and respectful conversations between WAM and CAM practitioners and researchers, exploring the contribution that all forms of medicine and research can offer to people with Parkinson’s and those in the prodromal period;

• cessation of abuse and denigration of CAM practitioners and researchers by WAM and its pharmaceutical-sponsored “support” organisations;

• a public move by WAM to distance itself from rambunctious anti-health campaigners misquoting dubious studies to denigrate CAM healthcare practitioners;

• engagement of government agencies like the National Health and Medical Research Council in Australia, and similar bodies in other countries, with CAM practitioners and researchers as equal partners in the work to improve the health status of all people in our society;

• a change of language to promote and focus on lifestyle and self-help strategies to promote health throughout life, rather than just treating illness or using drug therapy to prevent one illness with methods that may cause other illnesses.

Funding

Facts:

• Of all medical/health research funding, less than one per cent is spent on prevention research.

• Prevention research is largely dominated by WAM and so generally focuses on vaccine/

drug prevention of single illnesses (often with unintended adverse effects) or outdated lifestyle/dietary strategies.

• We need funding for genuine and clinically supported lifestyle and dietary prevention strategies that is untied. Currently most lifestyle research funding is provided by non-pharmaceutical companies seeking to promote dietary supplement products, practitioners with particular interests, or rare benefactors.

• National governments have a responsibility to enhance the health of their constituents (a responsibility most governments neglect in favour of illness treatment) and must

allocate a much greater percentage of research funding to prevention research distant from vested interest, with guidance from WAM and CAM in equal measure.

• All governments should allocate at least one per cent of their health/illness budget each year to prevention research and education with equal voices from WAM and CAM. In Australia, this would mean, in 2019, 1.5 billion dollars spent on prevention strategies and research, ultimately yielding an ever-decreasing burden of health/illness care on the economy. I realise that this objective is in the realm of building fairy gardens to entertain politicians in their dotage as there is no political profit or benefit in preventing illness (it is really hard to publicise something that doesn’t happen). However, perhaps there

are one or two altruistic politicians who will push for a much greater allocation of funds for illness prevention and life enhancement.

We CAN achieve some or all of these needs if we all focus on wellness and illness prevention, talk openly to our WAM and CAM practitioners, politicians and business

leaders. One person is a whisper, a thousand people is a murmur, 100,000 people (1 per cent of those diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease) demand attention, and one million people constitute a roar that will be heard around the world.

It starts with you and me.