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Gospel for Asia Reports: Fighting Malaria – A Chilling Disease (Part 2)

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Wills Point, Texas – GFA Special Report (Gospel for Asia) – Discussing the continuing battle in fighting malaria worldwide via mosquito netting and medical care to combat this parasitic genius. Combating a Tough Disease Malaria has a history extending back thousands of years. The legendary Greek doctor, Hippocrates (born in 460 B.C.), described periodic fevers. It was so common in the Roman Empire that one report said it may have contributed to the empire’s decline . At one time, it was also common across Europe and North America. Malaria needs a combination of high population density, high anopheles mosquito density, and high rates of transmission from humans to mosquitos and vice versa. If any of the factors is lowered sufficiently, the parasite will eventually disappear from the area. However, unless eliminated entirely, it can be re-established if conditions revert to a combination favorable to the parasite . The battle against the disease has raged for centuries. Scientific studie...
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Gospel for Asia Reports: Fighting Malaria – A Chilling Disease (Part 1)

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Wills Point, Texas – GFA Special Report (Gospel for Asia) – Discussing the fight against malaria, prevention via mosquito netting and medical care to combat a parasitic genius. Fighting Against Malaria Though eradicated in many developed nations, malaria still claims thousands of lives around the world. One victim who survived this mosquito-borne disease compared its chills to “ lying down between two blocks of ice .” Each year, more than 400,000 people don’t survive those terrifying shudders. As part of its long-term goal to eradicate malaria, this year the World Health Organization (WHO) is launching the first field test of a vaccine in real-world settings. Known as RTS,S, or Mosquirix™, the United Nations agency says this is the first vaccine shown to provide partial protection against malaria in young children by acting against the deadliest parasite globally. It will be made available to select residents of three countries in Africa, the continent linked to the highest number of c...
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Thanksgiving and Gratitude: New Drugs for Health and Happiness

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Did you know that the scientific community has been studying the effects of gratitude and thanksgiving on the physiological health of humans? Since around the year 2000, social scientists began turning their focus solely from abnormal psychology to healthy emotional habits and their impact on the way we live. Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, reports : “A large body of recent work suggests that people who are more grateful have higher levels of well-being: Grateful people are happier, less stressed, and more satisfied with their lives and social relationship. Grateful people also have higher levels of control of their environments, personal growth, purpose in life, and self- acceptance. Grateful people have more positive ways of coping with the difficulties they experience in life, being less likely to try and avoid the problem, deny there is a problem, blame themselves, or cope through substance use. Grateful people sleep better, and this seems to be because they think less negative...
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Gospel for Asia: Scandal of 21st Century Slavery & Human Trafficking (Part 3)

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Wills Point, Texas – GFA Special Report (Gospel for Asia) – Discussing the global problem of modern slavery – despite being difficult to eradicate, there is still hope. Champions of Change Clearly, governments have a major role to play in ending slavery, and leaders are taking steps in places like India, where tougher anti-trafficking laws have been pursued. In 2016, child rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Kailash Satyarthi launched the global “100 million for 100 million” campaign, which challenges the world’s children living in better circumstances to speak up on behalf of disadvantaged children. Then-President Pranab Mukherjee’s support of the campaign has been acknowledged as part of a “historic move towards ending child slavery in India.” Of 161 countries profiled in the Global Slavery Index, 150 governments provide some kind of services for victims, 124 have criminalized human trafficking, and 96 have national action plans to do something about it. Perhaps fittingly, ...
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Gospel for Asia: Scandal of 21st Century Slavery & Human Trafficking (Part 2)

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Wills Point, Texas – GFA Special Report (Gospel for Asia) – Discussing the horrors of modern day human trafficking, slavery and forced labor throughout the world. Human Trafficking: Cashing In on Chaos Like a virus, human trafficking continues to mutate. Women have long been considered to be the main victims, and that is certainly true in the sex trade, where they comprise 99 percent of those used and abused. However, GRETA (Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings) found that, in some countries, labor trafficking has emerged as “the predominant form.” And while there are “considerable variations in the number and proportion of labour trafficking victims amongst evaluated countries, all countries indicated an upward trend of labour exploitation over the years.” As the numbers of those trafficked for forced labor have increased over the last decade, so has the number of trafficked men, who can be subject to particularly brutal treatment. Survivors of forced labor...
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For the Love of Pumpkins, “Do What You Are Doing!”

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For several years I’ve collected lovely coffee table books that are beautifully graphically designed with photo essays and recipes highlighting the uniqueness and wonder of . . . pumpkins! One writer, Caroline Boisset, who grows some 75 varieties of squashes, pumpkins and gourds, says, “It is no accident that pumpkins and squashes, along with many other members of their family, the cucurbitaceae, fascinate people who have just encountered them and trigger passion in those who start to collect and cultivate them. They have everything to offer.” Indeed, squashes, pumpkins and gourds are decorative: Nothing is more beautiful than a pile of orange pumpkins on a fall day with the fields going golden, the blue sky and the maple trees beginning to redden. What a whammy for the eyes when the orange pumpkins, lit by the sun, are juxtaposed against bunches of mums or fall zinnias! But cucurbitaceae are also a cook’s delight. Immensely versatile, their taste is conducive to the making of soups an...
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Gospel for Asia: Scandal of 21st Century Slavery & Human Trafficking (Part 1)

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Wills Point, Texas – GFA Special Report (Gospel for Asia) – Discussing the present day tragedy of modern slavery & human trafficking, where there are more slaves today than at any time in history. Around 10 million people are currently behind bars somewhere in the world. Some have yet to face trial, a few have been wrongly convicted, but most are prisoners for a crime they have committed. Meanwhile, four times as many people are being held against their will because of a crime committed against them—they are part of the global slave population estimated to be more than 40 million. That number is higher than the entire population of Canada. Many of these victims are literally kept under lock and key, while others are effectively imprisoned by coercion, manipulation and extortion. Slavery: Stronger Today than Ever Slavery may long have been officially outlawed, but difficult though it may be to believe, numerically there are more slaves today than at any time in history. Among them...
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