Malaria Makes Comeback Amid Coronavirus Pandemic – Part 2 by Gospel for Asia

May 6, 2021 By GFA Staff Writer

WILLS POINT, TX – GFA World (Gospel for Asia) founded by K.P. Yohannan, has been the model for numerous charities like GFA World Canada, to help the poor and deprived worldwide, issued this second part of a Special Report update on Malaria making a comeback amid the worldwide impact of the COVID 19 Pandemic.

Progress Ebbs and Flows in the Fight to Beat Malaria

Recent developments in the fight against Malaria have placed a heightened spotlight on World Malaria Day, observed on April 25. Fortunately, despite the high death toll and other troublesome signs lately, not all the news about malaria treatment is bad. There are gains amid the setbacks.

Woman receives mosquito net. — This woman in West Bengal was very grateful to Believers Eastern Church and its leaders for providing her with a mosquito net to protect herself and her family from vector borne diseases like malaria.

One positive example is Myanmar, where the annual malaria death toll of 3,800 a decade ago has decreased to approximately 170. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria credits the efforts of 17,000 community volunteers who provide rapid testing and treatment, with serious cases referred to health facilities. Volunteers also educate the public through national antimalaria campaigns.¹⁴ Unfortunately, it’s unknown if the recent military coup in Myanmar will adversely impact the recent progress it’s achieved in the prevention of malaria.

News of another positive development appeared last October in Legion. About the same time the United States revealed a COVID-19 vaccine would be ready by the end of 2020, the Canadian magazine reported that a noted medical journal announced a new approach to fighting malaria.

Legion reported a clinical researcher for the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has developed a vaccine for mosquito-borne diseases, based on mosquito spit. It causes the immune system to recognize mosquito saliva proteins and produce antibodies. The antibodies promote immunity by binding to pathogens to prevent them from damaging cells, plus coating pathogens and alerting other immune cells to attack and remove them.

“Those antibodies recognize the proteins the next time they’re encountered, sparking an immune response that goes into action to impair or prevent infection—and not just to malaria, it turns out,” wrote author Sharon Adams. “In animal studies, saliva vaccines impaired development of mosquito-borne Zika virus and sandfly-borne leishmaniasis.”¹⁵

In the first human trial of this vaccine in 2017, Adams said a strong immune response was observed among 49 volunteers, with only minor side effects. Next it will be tested on larger groups; if clinical trials continue to prove successful, the first effective malaria vaccine may be just around the corner.

Mother and child resting inside their mosquito net — Maya from a village in Uttar Pradesh was given a mosquito net as a Christmas gift by Gospel for Asia. She can now protect her family from mosquito bites that transmit vector-borne diseases like malaria, Zika, dengue, encephalitis and more.

In addition to this promising development, a European magazine carried a report from a healthcare company official saying there are antimalaria positives to be gained from the COVID-19 fight. Hogan Bassey, a Nigerian native who experienced several bouts with malaria as a child, noted that the pandemic highlighted system failings in global healthcare. He said if we are able to address those problems, the world will be better positioned to eradicate malaria and other diseases.

The chief innovation officer and founder of LivFul said his company is working with others—including nonprofits—to develop a repellent that it hopes will prove an efficient control tool. It has been working on a project in Ghana with a pharmaceutical company to improve one of the repellant’s ingredients, using LivFul’s technology to drive access.

After moving to the USA from Nigeria, Hogan Bassey began to work on an insect repellent formula to change the world. The true breakthrough for his new company, LivFul, came after partnering with a physical chemist to create a brand-new technology which allows insect repellent to remain on top of the applicant’s skin for 14 hours at a time. Photo by Terry News

“When we developed a revolutionary family-friendly insect repellent to halt the transmission of diseases like malaria and Dengue fever, we knew we could have a significant impact on insect-borne disease,” Bassey wrote in EPM Magazine. “If people in malaria-prone areas can purchase and use our repellent, these diseases can be stopped before they destroy lives, families, communities and industries.”¹⁶

Such a product won’t be the first tool developed. National Geographic recently reported hundreds of thousands of children across Kenya, Malawai and Ghana have been receiving the RTS,S vaccine, whose development has taken 35 years and cost hundreds of millions of dollars. While some African health professionals have asked if the expense and logistics of multiple vaccinations are worth it, the magazine said some Chinese scientists have been utilizing a new approach: preventing malaria from even occurring.

It goes back to 1972, when the Chinese discovered Artemisinin, a drug used to treat malaria. Now, scientists there believe Artemisinin Combination Therapies (ACTs) can be delivered to an entire community simultaneously, through Mass Drug Administrations. The goal is to reduce levels of the malaria parasite in human blood, so mosquitoes won’t contract it and spread it.

“The life cycle for a mosquito is 30 days,” explains Ethan Peng, senior manager in Kenya for the Chinese company New South, which manufactures ACTs. “So by mass medication, we can clear the source from all human beings (so) the mosquitoes cannot pick up on the malaria parasite again with their short lifespan.”¹⁷

Crowd and woman walking away happily after receiving the gift of mosquito nets — People in rural villages in West Bengal often suffer from malaria, but these folk were very happy to receive mosquito nets for their families. Over eight hundred mosquito nets were gifted to the villagers who come from economically poor backgrounds, and might not have been able to afford to buy them on their own.

Mosquito Nets Still the Leading Tool for Protection

Children sleeping peacefully under the protection of a mosquito net. — Vandana and Vaibhav are sleeping peacefully on their bed in Maharashtra under their mosquito net which protects them from mosquito bites. They received their bed nets from a Christmas gift distribution from Gospel for Asia.

When it comes to fighting malaria, the bed net still appears to be the leading tool. When COVID-19 hit in March 2020, WHO malaria scientist Pedro Alonso expected the biggest malaria disaster in 20 years after African countries temporarily suspended bed net campaigns.

That didn’t seem to be happening, the scientist said five months later. He credited lobbying by WHO’s Global Malaria Programme and its partners, which persuaded countries to resume their net distribution campaigns. Despite concerns over continuing COVID-19 problems, Alonso said, “We probably stopped the first big blow.”¹⁸

Among the many non-governmental organizations doing their part to distribute mosquito nets is Gospel for Asia (GFA).

Since 2010, GFA has distributed more than 1.3 million nets to at-risk residents in mosquito-prone areas, including 380,000 in 2019 (many are treated with insecticide, with availability depending on local conditions).

These efforts are augmented by distribution of malaria pills at GFA’s medical camps. In 2019 the organization hosted nearly 1,300 camps, which are free to attendees.

The difference net distributions make can be seen in the stories of people like Baharupa, a 55-year-old farmer and father of three who felt pressured to drink alcohol at many village-wide events. Not only did he often wind up drunk, he developed an addiction. That all changed after Satyam, a GFA worker, organized a distribution of 4,000 nets.

“Who can give us mosquito nets without money?” Baharupa wondered. “This shows [the believers’] love towards us.”¹⁹This experience so touched Baharupa that it began a transformation in his life.

Another story of relief involves a 71-year-old widow whose husband had died more than a decade prior. With four daughters all married, Bhranti spent evenings alone, worried about the tattered net providing her only protection from mosquitoes. She received a new net through a distribution organized by a GFA worker.

“I am so grateful to the [GFA workers] for their love and care and for providing a mosquito net,” Bhranti says. “Now I do not need to worry about buying a mosquito net as I have been provided a new one.”²⁰

Even amid the problems COVID-19 has caused in poorer parts of the world, GFA’s supporters have been able to help local workers in the field save lives and prevent more tragedies during the pandemic, says Gospel for Asia (GFA) founder, Dr. K.P. Yohannan.

Dr. K.P. Yohannan, GFA Founder — Dr. K.P. Yohannan,
*GFA World Founder*

“Without proper prevention or treatment, the consequences of a simple mosquito bite are very serious in many places of the world,” Yohannan says. “But for just $10, we can protect numerous lives, one net at a time.”

What can we do about mosquito-driven scourges? »

One simple way to fight mosquito-borne diseases like malaria, is to consider giving a needy family a simple Mosquito Net. For only $10, Gospel for Asia’s field partners can distribute one of these effective nets to an at-risk family in Asia and provide them with safety from insects during the day and at night.

Read the rest of this Gospel for Asia – Transforming Communities (GFA World) Special Report: Malaria Makes Comeback Amid Pandemic — Part 1

About GFA World

GFA World (formerly known as Gospel for Asia) is a leading faith-based global mission agency, helping national workers bring vital assistance and spiritual hope to millions across the world, especially in Asia and Africa, and sharing the love of God. In GFA World’s latest yearly report, this included thousands of community development projects that benefit downtrodden families and their children, free medical camps conducted in more than 1,200 villages and remote communities, over 4,800 clean water wells drilled, over 12,000 water filters installed, income-generating Christmas gifts for more than 260,000 needy families, and teaching providing hope and encouragement available in 110 languages in 14 nations through radio ministry. In the years ahead, GFA World expects to launch programs in numerous African nations, starting with compassion projects in Rwanda. For all the latest news, visit our Press Room at https://press.gfa.org/news.

Read more blogs on GFA World, Malaria, Mosquito Nets and the COVID 19 Pandemic on Patheos from Gospel for Asia.

Learn more by reading this Special Report from Gospel for Asia: Winning the Ancient Conflict Between Man and Mosquito — Know Your Enemy or Succumb to Vector-borne Diseases

KP Yohannan has issued two statements about the COVID-19 situation found here and here.

GFA’s Statement About Coronavirus

Notable News about Gospel for Asia: FoxNews, ChristianPost, NYPost, MissionsBox

Read what 24 Christian Leaders are affirming about Gospel for Asia.

This Special Report originally appeared on gfa.org.

Malaria Makes Comeback Amid Worldwide Coronavirs Pandemic – Part 1 by Gospel for Asia

May 5, 2021 By GFA Staff Writer

WILLS POINT, TX – GFA World (Gospel for Asia) founded by K.P. Yohannan, has been the model for numerous charities like GFA World Canada, to help the poor and deprived worldwide, issued this first part of a Special Report update on Malaria making a comeback amid the worldwide impact of the COVID 19 Pandemic.

It’s a back-and-forth battle growing tougher in the face of COVID-19, with mosquitoes responsible for spreading the disease taking on the appearance of brass-helmeted warriors immune to nearly every device aimed in their direction. Malaria, humanity’s most deadly infectious disease, is making a comeback while our primary defense—net distribution—is being handicapped by the disruptions to normal life caused by the worldwide pandemic.

Insecticidal Nets a Mainstay, but Declining to Protect in Some Cases

Mother and child under mosquito net — Niger: Demilla and her children now sleep under the safety of a bed net, which protects them from malaria-carrying mosquitoes, which have regularly affected many of her close family members, including her two children. Photo by Nothing But Nets, Instagram

That news appeared last summer in Nature Communications, which published research showing insecticide-treated mosquito nets—considered a mainstay in combating malaria—are not providing the protection they once did.¹

According to another report in ScienceDaily, scientists say that’s cause for concern in tropical and subtropical countries. Long-Lasting Insecticidal Nets (LLINs) were credited with saving 6.8 million lives over a recent 15-year period.²

Dr. Stephen Carl, a malaria researcher in Australia, said LLINs add a community-level protective effect by significantly decreasing the mosquito population, which benefits even people not using nets. In Papua New Guinea, their introduction in 2006 led to a significant decline in cases, but between 2013–14 and 2016–17, the rate of infections rebounded from less than 1 percent to 7.1 percent.³

“[LLINs] are the only tools used at present in the national campaign against the mosquitoes that can carry malaria,” said study co-author Dr. Moses Laman.

“Malaria kills around half a million people worldwide each year, so any suggestion that the nets are not working is cause for grave concern.”⁴

While conclusions are still being formed on the news reported in Nature Communications, it appears diminished bioefficacy at the manufacturing level may be contributing to the problem of resurgence in malaria incidents.

Girl resting under mosquito net — Mosquito bites will result in more than 700,000 malaria deaths around the world this coming year — wiping out the equivalent of the entire population of Washington, D.C., says a recent report by Gospel for Asia. The report — Winning the Ancient Conflict Between Man and Mosquito — coincided with World Mosquito Day, Aug. 20, 2020.

Debating Treated Nets vs Untreated Nets

But not everyone agrees that treated nets are necessary. Research published just prior to the ScienceDaily report questioned if their cost makes the fight harder. One report in Malaria Journal said although more than 90 percent of the burden occurs in Africa, most prequalified nets approved by the World Health Organization (WHO) are manufactured elsewhere. The publication said many local manufacturers lack the capacity to produce insecticidal nets at a competitive scale and pricing.⁵

Fredros Okumu speaking at TEDGlobal 2017 — Fredros Okumu is a Kenyan parasitologist and entomologist, who developed a synthetic mosquito lure which was 3-5 times more potent than natural human odor. Photo by Fredros Okumu, Twitter

By relaxing conditions, it is conceivable that non-insecticidal but durable—and possibly biodegradable—nets could be readily manufactured locally, wrote author Fredros Okumu. While not aiming to discredit treated nets, he said he wanted to illustrate how a singular focus on insecticides can hinder innovation and sustainability.⁶

“The public health value of nets is increasingly driven by bite prevention, and decreasingly by lethality to mosquitoes,” Okumu said. “For context-appropriate solutions, it is necessary to acknowledge and evaluate the potential and cost-effectiveness of durable untreated nets across different settings.”

In his lengthy report, he also observed that developers should, instead of overemphasizing the need for new insecticides, ensure that bed nets are accessible, durable and properly used, even if non-insecticidal.

“New insecticides can then be developed for other forms of vector control,” Okumu said. “It has been demonstrated that resistant mosquitoes can survive up to 1,000-times the concentration of insecticides that kill susceptible populations. Such strongly resistant mosquitoes may naturally incur major survival and fitness costs in nature but are unlikely to be killed directly by insecticidal nets.”⁷

Local Believers Eastern Church distributed over eight hundred mosquito nets to villagers from economically poor backgrounds. — Malaria caused by mosquitos is one of the main killers in West Bengal, India, as the villages in these areas are surrounded by tea plantations and forests with lots of insects. On World Mosquito Day, August 17th, 2016 the local Believers Eastern Church distributed over eight hundred mosquito nets to villagers from economically poor backgrounds, who would be unable to afford to purchase their own.

Fighting a Coronavirus that Hampers Bed Net Distribution

However one looks at the necessity of treated nets, distribution of any nets—treated or untreated—has been a cause for concern during the coronavirus outbreak.

Writing in Nature Medicine, researchers forecast the possibility of 779,000 deaths in sub-Saharan Africa over a 12-month period, culminating in the summer of 2021.⁸ That compares to a WHO worst-case estimate of 769,000 malaria deaths this year, a mortality rate not seen in two decades.⁹

In the face of COVID-19, Okefu Oyale Okoko, deputy director of the National Malaria Elimination Programme in Nigeria, said it would still be important to ensure continuing deployment of vector control interventions to not only sustain gains in malaria elimination, but ensure against its resurgence.

According to a report in The (London) Telegraph, researchers concluded that treating children with fever as if they have malaria, even if not diagnosed with the disease, could save nearly 200,000 lives. And, of course, prompt distribution of bed nets could prevent hundreds of thousands of deaths.

When final statistics are available, researchers from the Imperial College of London predict if control programs were halted due to COVID-19, the number of cases during 2020 could double compared to 2019. In Nigeria alone, they said cutting treatment and delaying the distribution of bed nets could result in 81,000 additional deaths.

James Whiting, Chief Executive at Malaria No More UK, whose goal is to end deaths and suffering from malaria. Since 2000 deaths of the biggest killer disease in human history have been reduced by 60%, saving 7 million lives. But in the last few years malaria has started to rise again per WHO World Malaria Reports. Photo by Hope and Homes for Children

Typically distributed at community meetings, such gatherings to distribute bed nets faced interruptions over the last year because of event cancellations or poor attendance because of coronavirus fears.

Telegraph correspondent Anne Gulland wrote that researchers’ modeling found that provision of bed nets is critical since those treated with long-lasting insecticide have effects that continue for three years. More than half of the 47 countries most badly affected by the disease were due bed net distributions in 2020, with 228 million nets due to be handed out. That would have been the largest number ever.

James Whiting, executive director of Malaria No More UK, told the newspaper: “This important modelling is a reminder that efforts to end malaria sit on a knife edge. Protecting people against COVID-19 cannot be pursued in isolation. Governments must see maintaining efforts against malaria as a core part of pandemic preparedness or risk a catastrophic domino effect.”¹⁰

Soon after the Telegraph article, computer magnate turned philanthropist Bill Gates echoed the necessity of not allowing the pandemic to distract attention from the fight against mosquito-borne disease. The pesky insects are out infecting millions with a disease that kills a child every other minute daily, he wrote in his online blog.¹¹

In his lengthy report, [Okumu] observed that developers should, instead of overemphasizing the need for new insecticides, ensure that bed nets are accessible, durable and properly used, even if non-insecticidal.

Gates—head of the Gates Foundation, a key non-governmental organization fighting malaria’s spread—said lockdowns and other regulations made it difficult for health workers to provide prevention and treatment across Africa. He said there were also interruptions to supplies of essential malaria tools like bed nets and anti-malaria medicines. Instrumental in reducing malaria deaths by more than half since 2000, he said interruption of these services could mean mortality levels not seen since the turn of the century.

“There is not a choice between saving lives from COVID-19 versus saving lives from malaria,” Gates wrote. “The world must enable these countries to do both. Health officials urgently need to step up to the challenge of controlling the pandemic while also making sure that malaria, as well as other diseases like HIV and tuberculosis, are not neglected.”¹²

“The world has changed in ways we could never imagine,” observed Dr. Pedro Alonso, director of the WHO’s Global Malaria Programme, in a letter to malaria partners six months after lockdowns began. “As COVID-19 began its rapid spread earlier this year from China to Italy, and beyond, alarm bells began ringing across the malaria community. After taking such a devastating toll on countries with robust health systems, how would malaria-endemic countries in Africa prevail? Among colleagues at WHO, there was deep concern that the coronavirus had the potential to upend years—perhaps decades—of progress in malaria control.”¹³

What can we do about mosquito-driven scourges? »

Read the rest of this Gospel for Asia – Transforming Communities (GFA World) Special Report: Malaria Makes Comeback Amid Pandemic — Part 2

About GFA World

Read more blogs on GFA World, Malaria, Mosquito Nets and the COVID 19 Pandemic on Patheos from Gospel for Asia.

Learn more by reading this Special Report from Gospel for Asia: Winning the Ancient Conflict Between Man and Mosquito — Know Your Enemy or Succumb to Vector-borne Diseases

KP Yohannan has issued two statements about the COVID-19 situation found here and here.

GFA’s Statement About Coronavirus

Notable News about Gospel for Asia: FoxNews, ChristianPost, NYPost, MissionsBox

Read what 24 Christian Leaders are affirming about Gospel for Asia.

This Special Report originally appeared on gfa.org.

Global Pandemic Worsens the Hardships of Leprosy Patients (Part 1)

March 17, 2021 By GFA Staff Writer

WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World) founded by K.P. Yohannan, whose heart to love and help the poor has inspired numerous charities like Gospel for Asia Canada, to serve the deprived and downcast worldwide, issued this Special Report update on the worsening hardships of leprosy patients amid the COVID 19 pandemic.

One of the unanticipated side effects of the seismic COVID-19 pandemic has been how it shed light on a community long consigned to the shadows—the several million people around the world living with leprosy.

Kalaupapa: Hawaii’s Leprosy Colony on Molokai — Kalaupapa:
Hawaii’s Leprosy Colony on Molokai
Photo by SeaSideWithEmily.com

This occurred in the news recently when the last county in the United States to get COVID-19 was shown to be located on a remote Hawaiian outpost and former leprosy colony.

The media exposure brought heightened attention to World Leprosy Day on January 24, an annual awareness initiative supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention under the “Bust the Myths, Learn the Facts” banner aiming to dispel the misinformation that keeps the disease shrouded in fear.

Leprosy: Bust the Myths, Learn the Facts

Despite the fact that around 95 percent of the world’s population has natural immunity to the disease, leprosy patients continue to face unfounded discrimination. For example, in parts of South Asia, more than 100 laws restrict the rights of people with leprosy, including barring them from running for local office.

Despite the fact that 95% of the world’s population has natural immunity to the disease, leprosy patients continue to face unfounded discrimination.

Nor is leprosy as contagious as is widely believed. A study in Bangladesh found that less than two percent of those who shared a home with someone with leprosy would contract the disease themselves, “which is a reminder that there is no need to isolate people affected by leprosy.”

But that hasn’t curbed the shunning and shaming of leprosy patients, who are often forced to leave their communities and reduced to begging.

Leprosy Map 2019 — Geographical distribution of new cases of Hansen’s disease reported to WHO in 2019. Source: World Health Organizaion/National leprosy programmes © World Health Organization (WHO), 2019. All rights reserved.

Throughout History, People Believed to Have Leprosy Were Among the Most Reviled

Carville's Cure - Leprosy, stigma, and the Fight for Justice — Photo by Amazon.com

Surprising to many is that the United States had its own leprosy colonies until not too long ago. The largest, in Hawaii, closed in 1969 after taking in more than 8,000 patients over its lifetime, while the last, in Louisiana, where patients weren’t allowed to vote or marry, was shuttered in 2015. Around 200 new cases are still reported in the United States each year, most among people who have spent time in parts of the world where the disease is more prevalent.

At one stage, a century back, the assistant surgeon general declared there were “1,200 lepers at large” in America, seeking permission to round them up like criminals, recounts journalist Pam Fessler in her book, Carville’s Cure: Leprosy, Stigma, and the Fight for Justice. It tells the story of the Louisiana leprosy colony and her husband’s grandfather, who ran away when he was diagnosed with the disease to avoid being confined.

“Throughout history, those believed to have leprosy… were among the most reviled members of society, outcasts sometimes believed to be sinners who brought the illness upon themselves,” says Fessler. “Even today, the threat of leprosy is used to demonize immigrants and people living in homeless encampments as potential carriers of the disease—although there’s no evidence that’s true.”

These leprosy patients are waiting their turn for treatment at a GFA medical center.

Every day, GFA Pastor Jiva visits the leprosy colony to encourage and pray for the patients and families there. “It is because of God’s grace that I have the strength, courage and motivation to work among these people, to share with them, to hug them, to love them and to care for them,” he says.

Many villages bar those people who are of a lower social status, or are afflicted with Leprosy, from using their wells, but Jesus Wells installed by GFA are open to everyone!

Dr. KP Yohannan, Founder of GFA World, recently visited a leprosy colony where he had the opportunity to help clean the wounds of leprosy patients, pray for them, and give them blankets for the upcoming winter season. Around 500 Sisters of Compassion daily serve leprosy patients all across Asia, faithfully following Christ’s example to serve these who are the most vulnerable and forgotten.

Most of the people affected by leprosy are very dependent on others for moving around or doing any sort of work. The largest share of them make a living by begging in the streets or marketplaces.

Some residents in leprosy colonies can still function at various levels. In other cases, there may be a couple of families that have healthy members who can cook and care for others who are sick.

How can a person work without their hands or feet? Leprosy often will cause people’s feet and hands to become disfigured, making it very difficult for men and women affected by this disease to provide for their families.

By providing treatment and practical help for leprosy patients, GFA workers show that Jesus loves and accepts all—even those rejected by society and crippled by Hansen’s disease.

In her culture, she may be considered an outcast because she suffers from leprosy. But many women and men like her who suffer from this disease are encountering God’s love in their lives through simple acts of kindness like nutritious meals provided by GFA World.

Eliminating Discrimination and False Conceptions Surrounding Leprosy is Key to Eliminating the Disease Itself

Progress in the Fight Against Leprosy — Photo by Gospel for Asia (GFA World)

As a previous Gospel for Asia (GFA) special report underscored, eliminating discrimination and false conceptions of leprosy is key to eliminating the disease itself. For, while effective drug treatments have been available since the 1980s, ongoing stigma means many sufferers wait too long to be diagnosed, causing irreversible damage. Meanwhile, clinical trials on a vaccine are continuing.

The coronavirus-fueled renewed focus on this largely forgotten disease has been two-edged—revealing how much deep-rooted ignorance and prejudice still has to be overcome while also offering hope for greater compassion, and even possibly a reduction in its incidence.

Give to Help Those with Leprosy »

If this special report has touched your heart and you would like to do something to help people with leprosy, please share this article with your friends and consider making a generous gift to Gospel for Asia (GFA World) to help leprosy patients in South Asia and other locations.

About Gospel for Asia

Gospel for Asia (GFA World) is a leading faith-based mission agency, helping national workers bring vital assistance and spiritual hope to millions across Asia, especially to those who have yet to hear about the love of God. In GFA’s latest yearly report, this included more than 70,000 sponsored children, free medical camps conducted in more than 1,200 villages and remote communities, over 4,800 clean water wells drilled, over 12,000 water filters installed, income-generating Christmas gifts for more than 260,000 needy families, and spiritual teaching available in 110 languages in 14 nations through radio ministry. For all the latest news, visit our Press Room at https://press.gfa.org/news.

Read the rest of this Gospel for Asia – Transforming Communities (GFA World) Special Report: Pandemic Worsens the Hardships of Leprosy Patients – COVID-19 intensifies two crippling challenges — Part 2

Read more blogs on Gospel for Asia, Leprosy, and the COVID 19 Pandemic on Patheos from Gospel for Asia.

KP Yohannan has issued two statements about the COVID-19 situation found here and here.

GFA’s Statement About Coronavirus

Learn more about the GFA leprosy ministry, or the Reaching Friends Ministry, helping remind people affected by leprosy that, despite the stigma of leprosy, they have dignity and are valued by God.

Learn more about the GFA World workers who carry a burning desire for people to know the love of God. Through their prayers, dedication and sacrificial love, thousands of men and women have found new life in Christ.

Learn more by reading these Special Reports from Gospel for Asia:

Modern Day Slavery Speeds up under Cover of COVID-19 — Growing during pandemic: people vulnerable to exploitation
Fighting Global Poverty with Ideas — Uprooting poverty requires education that transmits values

Read what 24 Christian Leaders are affirming about Gospel for Asia.

This Special Report originally appeared on gfa.org.

Click here, to read more blogs on Patheos from Gospel for Asia.

COVID Stay-At-Home ‘Doesn’t Compare to Leprosy Isolation’ Says Gospel for Asia

March 8, 2021 By GFA Staff Writer

WILLS POINT, TX — Gospel for Asia (GFA World) founded by K.P. Yohannan, whose heart to love and help the poor has inspired numerous charities like Gospel for Asia Canada, to serve the deprived and downcast worldwide — released a new special report amid new COVID social restrictions in force in many countries, reveals the loneliness and despair of people living with another “disease of isolation” — leprosy.

With new COVID restrictions in force worldwide, Gospel for Asia report reveals the despair & isolation the people living with leprosy endure — **COVID STAY-AT-HOME ‘DOESN’T COMPARE TO LEPROSY ISOLATION:’** With new COVID social restrictions in force in many countries, a just-released report (http://www.gfa.org/press/leprosy-ministry) from Gospel for Asia (GFA World) reveals the loneliness and despair of people living with another “disease of isolation” — leprosy. The report marked World Leprosy Day late last month.

Sixty percent of disabled leprosy patients surveyed in Bangladesh said life was “totally meaningless,” says the report by missions agency Gospel for Asia (GFA World), who recently marked World Leprosy Day.

Being confined to home for extended periods due to pandemic restrictions might be uncomfortable, but “it doesn’t compare to being isolated for the rest of one’s life in a leprosy colony,” says the report, http://www.gfa.org/press/leprosy-ministry.

“Right now, many of us are having a difficult time in isolation due to the pandemic,” said Gospel for Asia (GFA World) founder K.P. Yohannan. “But what a privilege we have to take our eyes off ourselves and become the hands and feet of Jesus, helping to bring hope and God’s love to someone who’s forgotten and who believes their life is meaningless.”

In the report, GFA World highlights the remarkable work of local teams visiting leprosy colonies in Asia — where the disease is most prevalent — and bringing hope and healing to those forgotten by the outside world.

Leprosy ‘Not To Be Feared’

Teams of local women — known as Sisters of Compassion — visit leprosy colonies in South Asia, bringing food and encouragement to people living with disabilities and disfigurements caused by advanced leprosy. Their willingness to befriend people with leprosy — including many shunned by family and friends — shows others in the wider community that those living with the disease are not to be feared or isolated.

In fact, the disease — dreaded for centuries — is nowhere near as contagious as most people imagine. Around 95 percent of the global population is immune to leprosy, and it’s curable with antibiotics if detected early. There are hopes that a vaccine — currently in clinical trials — will bring an end to leprosy and its devastating impact on tens of thousands of lives every year.

For many, though, like Mungeli Das — who contracted leprosy as a girl more than 50 years ago and didn’t receive treatment in time — there’s little hope of a cure. Disabled and living in a leprosy colony, she clings to the help and hope that GFA World’s Sisters of Compassion bring her. The “sisters” follow the example of Jesus who, according to the gospels, touched and healed those with leprosy.

“Before the sisters came there was no one to help trim our hair, cut our nails or help us clean our houses and encourage us,” she said. “The sisters (clean) our wounds and they make us happy and encourage (us) all the time.”

Battling ‘False Stereotypes’

World Leprosy Day — an annual awareness event held on the last Sunday in January — aims to combat stigma and leprosy myths, including the negative and false stereotypes that further isolate people with leprosy.

Media reports comparing coronavirus lockdown restrictions to “living in a leper colony” fuel stigma and “dehumanize” people with leprosy, according to GFA World. Because of its wide use in a negative sense, the term “leper” feeds prejudice, the agency says.

Leprosy is not confined to Asia and other parts of the developing world. Every year, around 200 new cases are reported in the U.S. — mostly international travelers — and, until fairly recently, there were leprosy colonies in Hawaii and Louisiana, says the report.

Read another story on how the Lord is using Gospel for Asia to bring relief to those in need during COVID 19.

Those interested in supporting GFA World’s COVID 19 relief efforts in Asia, should go to: http://www.gfa.org/press/covid-19.

Media interested in interviews with Gospel For Asia should contact Gregg Wooding at InChrist Communications @ 972-567-7660 or gwooding@inchristcommuications.com

About Gospel for Asia

KP Yohannan has issued two statements about the COVID-19 situation found here and here.

GFA’s Statement About Coronavirus

Click here, to read more blogs on Patheos from Gospel for Asia.

Read more on Leprosy and the COVID 19 Crisis on Patheos from Gospel for Asia.

Notable News about Gospel for Asia: FoxNews, ChristianPost, NYPost, MissionsBox

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Modern Day Slavery Speeds up Under Cover of COVID-19 — Part 2

March 5, 2021 By GFA Staff Writer

WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World) founded by KP Yohannan, has been the model for numerous charities like Gospel for Asia Canada, to help the poor and deprived worldwide, issued this 2nd part of a Special Report update on the state of Modern Day Slavery amid the COVID 19 pandemic.

Trafficking Takes New Forms

Like all the worst viruses, human trafficking continues to mutate. In Asia, traffickers are known to have masqueraded as relief-aid helpers in order to find new victims, for example during the 2015 Nepal earthquake recovery.

Chief Superintendent Linda Jones, divisional police commander, welcomes three new officers who will begin policing the streets of Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland very soon.
Photo by Dumfries Galloway Police Division, Facebook

A recent Google search for “crime in the time of a virus human trafficking” found multiple results. One report from Asia documents that seasoned traffickers are busy distributing COVID relief materials and essential food items, and using this activity to identify vulnerable families and possible victims. A report by the UN indicates that the COVID crisis is putting human trafficking victims at risk of further exploitation.

In Scotland, police have warned that with many urban businesses closed, traffickers could be turning their sights on more rural areas.

“We often associate human trafficking and modern slavery with cities and urban areas where it’s easier to hide victims of trafficking in plain sight,” says Chief Superintendent Linda Jones, divisional police commander for Dumfries and Galloway. “However, trafficking happens across all communities, both urban and rural.”

INTERPOL, the international police agency, says the pandemic “has not blunted the determination of organized crime groups to prey on the vulnerable and make a profit from these crimes, which all too often cost the victims their lives.”

Rather, organized crime groups have increased the prices they charge those they are promising to get across borders illegally to find work and heightened the risks involved by trying to find unguarded entry points.

A case in point: In March, 64 male migrants were found dead in a shipping container loaded on the back of a truck trying to cross from Malawi into Mozambique. They are believed to have suffocated. Fourteen others survived.

Such large-scale operations—and tragedies—are not limited to less developed nations. At least nine people died, and more were hospitalized, in San Antonio, Texas, in 2017 after around 100 people were crammed into a tractor-trailer smuggling them into the country from South America.

In England, 39 Vietnamese migrants were found dead in a refrigerated truck linked to a European smuggling network in May.

And sometimes those in positions of influence are found to be perpetrators. Mohammad Shahid Islam, a member of Parliament in Bangladesh, was arrested in Kuwait in June as part of a human trafficking network. He allegedly charged Bangladeshis almost US$10,000 for a job in the Middle Eastern country.

Paul Petersen, a former county official in Arkansas, pleaded guilty in June to human smuggling and fraud charges related to paying women from the Marshall Islands to come to the United States to put their babies up for adoption.

In some parts of the world, it’s not only individual leaders but large government entities that actively participate in human trafficking. In this year’s TIP report, the State Department named 10 countries it said have engaged in “government-sponsored forced labor.” Among the claims was an Afghan government “policy or pattern” of recruiting child soldiers and sexually enslaving boys in government compounds, a practice known as “bacha bazi.”

Trafficking in Persons Report, 2020 — The U.S. Trafficking in Persons Report affirms that traffickers are denying nearly 25 million people their fundamental right to freedom, by preying on the most vulnerable people, and forcing them to live enslaved lives and toil for their exploiter’s profit. The implications of the COVID-19 pandemic have magnified this problem. Photo by U.S. Department of State

Awareness Training Vitally Needed

While much human trafficking goes on underground, it also often hides in plain sight, such as in domestic workers serving wealthy families, fruit pickers, car wash cleaners and even athletes. For example, in the world of aspiring young athletes, the promise of riches and unscrupulous agents has driven exploitation. According to the U.S. State Department report, “Within Europe’s soccer industry alone, it is estimated there are 15,000 human trafficking victims each year.”

Learning to spot the tell-tale signs of someone who might be enslaved is critical in helping end human trafficking.

It was how a routine traffic stop in Florida led to the arrest of six men who “orchestrated an extensive human trafficking ring.” Following a vehicle reported stolen in Ohio, deputies arrested the driver and his female passenger, whose behavior made them suspect she was under coercion. Eventually, she trusted the officers enough to reveal what she was caught up in.

“The bottom line is that traffickers have not shut down … traffickers are continuing to exploit people. And as vulnerable people become more vulnerable due to COVID, it’s making it easier and easier for traffickers to operate.”

Such alertness isn’t just needed from first responders like police and EMS providers who, according to the U.S. Fire Administration, are “well-suited to help counter human trafficking” because of how they come into contact with people. People working in hotels, bars or sporting events should also be trained to discern the signs of human trafficking because of the high level of interaction with others. The Illinois Hotel and Lodging Association, for example, has arranged for awareness training for all its members.

Photo of first responders — According to the U.S. Fire Administration, first responders like police, EMS providers, or this Italian Red Cross worker in Macerata, Italy, are “well-suited to help counter human trafficking” because of how they come into contact with people. Likewise, workers in hotels, bars or sporting events should also be trained to discern the signs of human trafficking because of their high level of interaction with others.

The Power of Faith-based Action

Charting the progress that has been made in fighting human trafficking over the past 20 years by governments and other agencies, the latest TIP report notes the important part played by faith-based groups like Gospel for Asia (GFA World). They are “powerful and necessary forces,” it says.

Glimpse of the red-light district where Pastor Dhinanath ministers — This photo is a small glimpse of the red-light district where Pastor Dhinanath ministers. This row of houses has multiple rooms, which are usually rented by pimps for ongoing prostitution. For safety concerns, we cannot identify anyone working this row of rooms, or share its location in South Asia.

“Unlike governments, faith-based organizations are not limited by jurisdiction, election cycles, or political will.”

“They reach across international borders,” the report says, “spanning continents with a powerful network of followers with tremendous reach—from remote villages to capital cities and the seats of power.”

Gospel for Asia (GFA World) workers seek to help those caught in the human trafficking chain by reaching out to sex workers in red light districts—like the testimony of Pastor Dhinanath and his wife Lydia who helped Athalia escape sexual slavery.

They also aim to break the cycle by providing vocational training and tools that can provide an income and keep people from getting trapped in perpetual debt.

Another way they help is by caring for children whose parents are forced to work all day.

“While these parents are engaged in their daily work, their children are left unattended,” says Kien, who works at one of Gospel for Asia’s Bridge of Hope community centers that opened its doors to the youngsters. “They have no parental guidance or supervision whatsoever. … They are let loose, and they become very unruly. They do not obey or listen to others. This is a big need here to teach their children.”

Bridge of Hope Sri Lanka — The staff at this Bridge of Hope Project Center in Sri Lanka individually help the children out in their after school learning, provide a safe environment to study, supply a hot meal every day, and give them encouragement, love and hope for a brighter future.

At the center, children get a hot meal and schooling and experience genuine love and care from staff.

“I feel very happy and joyful because of the work that we are doing among them,” says Kien. “These children will get a new life; they will become new persons as we teach them. I feel very glad and happy to think where these children will be in the future because of the investment we have made in their lives while here at the center.”

While bright spots like Gospel for Asia (GFA World) exist, a recent report by PBS says that COVID is making it harder for many worthy NGOs to survive, suggesting that only 24 percent of anti-trafficking organizations would be able to remain fully operational without extra funding in the next 12 months.

Your gift today can make an enormous difference in helping the fight against slavery and human trafficking. And your ongoing prayers are welcome too, as this fight—like the battle to beat COVID-19—is not looking to be an easy one to win.

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Your donation enables GFA World national workers to reach out to multitudes of needy people and provide for their most crucial physical and spiritual needs.

About Gospel for Asia

Read the rest of Gospel for Asia’s Special Report: Modern Day Slavery Speeds up Under Cover of COVID-19 – Growing during pandemic: People vulnerable to exploitation — Part 1

Read more about Gospel for Asia, Modern Slavery, and the COVID 19 Pandemic on Patheos from Gospel for Asia.

Learn more by reading these Special Reports from Gospel for Asia:

Child Labor: Not Gone, but Forgotten — Millions of Children Trapped between Extreme Poverty and the Profits of Others
Seeking Justice and Defending Human Rights — Wherever Poverty and Oppression Exist

KP Yohannan has issued two statements about the COVID-19 situation found here and here.

GFA’s Statement About Coronavirus

This Special Report originally appeared on gfa.org.

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During ‘Great’ Lent Gospel for Asia Calls for Prayer for ‘Unity, Holiness, End to Pandemic’

March 1, 2021 By GFA Staff Writer

WILLS POINT, TX — Gospel for Asia (GFA World) founded by K.P. Yohannan, has been the model for numerous charities like Gospel for Asia Canada, to help the poor and deprived worldwide –Reporting on GFA World mission agency offering online 40-day lent devotional to help Christians pray, fast for unity, end to pandemic and other crises.

Gospel for Asia (GFA World) offers online 40-day Lent devotional to help Christians pray, fast for unity, end to pandemic and other crises — ‘**GREAT’** **LENT SEASON ‘MOST IMPORTANT IN A GENERATION’:** Calling for Christians to pray and fast for “unity and holiness,” mission agency Gospel for Asia (GFA World) described this year’s holy season of Lent — beginning on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 17 — as “the most important in a generation.” The organization has launched a Lenten daily devotional, available at http://www.gfa.org/press/Lent21.

One of the largest humanitarian agencies in the world, has invited Christians to join a new movement during Great Lent to pray and fast for “unity and holiness” in America, and an end to the pandemic and other global crises.

Texas-based Gospel for Asia (GFA World) described this year’s holy season of Lent — beginning on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 17 — as “the most important in a generation.”

“With the ongoing pandemic, other global crises and so much divisiveness in our world right now, it’s never been more important for Christians to make a concerted effort to pray and fast for unity and holiness,” said Bishop Danny Punnose, Gospel for Asia (GFA World) vice president. “This Lenten season is the most important in a generation.”

Great Lent is the church season prior to Easter, focusing on fasting, repentance, and charity. Many Christians who observe Lent refrain from eating certain foods such as meat for a period of time, using the cash savings to help others in need. Others voluntarily give up an activity they enjoy, and instead use the time to pray and seek the Lord.

Offering a daily devotional for Lent 2021, Gospel for Asia (GFA World) is inviting Christians of all denominations to participate in daily prayer and fasting for “unity and holiness” as well as for those who are suffering around the world — including millions impacted by the pandemic, extreme poverty, starvation, sex trafficking, forced labor and other injustices.

“Our world desperately needs God’s intervention, healing and grace,” said Punnose, whose organization works to alleviate extreme poverty and share God’s love in villages and slums around the world.

Prayer: Turns Mourning To Joy

“The Lenten season is a purposeful opportunity in which we seek God and ask him to give us his heart for the suffering people of the world,” Punnose said. “As many of us face challenges that seem overwhelming, let’s remember God is able to bring dry bones to life and turn mourning into joy. Let’s turn to him and earnestly pray and fast.”

Lent is also an opportunity for people to help make the world a better place, Punnose said.

“Lent is a time when we can choose to make a simple sacrifice to embrace a cause that is close to the heart of God,” he said. “Tangible actions and conscious choices we make during the season of Lent should bring us closer to God and our neighbor, help us to become more like Jesus, and provide us with real opportunity to be Christ’s hands to those who need to know he loves them.”

One Billion Adherents

According to estimates, more than a billion Christians around the world will likely observe Lent, which is growing in popularity in evangelical circles.

“Many Christians are rediscovering the richness of the Lenten tradition, and are growing closer to Jesus through self-denial, sacrificial giving, fasting, and times of fervent prayer,” Punnose said. “Knowing that we have the hope that the world is dying for, shouldn’t we offer it?”

Gospel for Asia (GFA World) has produced a booklet titled The Seasons of Lent: Stepping Stones to Spiritual Renewal and Growth, written by Gospel for Asia (GFA World) founder K.P. Yohannan, best-selling author of Revolution in World Missions and Never Give Up. The booklet — a practical guide to observing Lent — is available free at http://www.gfa.org/press/Lent21.

Read another story on how the Lord is using Gospel for Asia to bring relief to those in need during COVID 19.

Those interested in supporting GFA World’s COVID 19 relief efforts in Asia, should go to: http://www.gfa.org/press/covid-19.

Media interested in interviews with Gospel For Asia should contact Gregg Wooding at InChrist Communications @ 972-567-7660 or gwooding@inchristcommuications.com

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KP Yohannan has issued two statements about the COVID-19 situation found here and here.

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Modern Day Slavery Accelerates Under Cover of COVID-19, says Gospel for Asia (Part 1)

February 2, 2021 By GFA Staff Writer

WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World) founded by KP Yohannan, has been the model for numerous charities like Gospel for Asia Canada, to help the poor and deprived worldwide, issued this 1st part of a Special Report update on the state of Modern Day Slavery amid the COVID 19 pandemic.

In my original report, 21st Century Slavery & Human Trafficking, I unveiled the overwhelming reality that more than 40 million people in our modern world are trafficked as slaves—more than any other time in human history. In this sequel, I unpack how modern slavery is growing—not slowing—under the covering of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.

Desperation, Fear — The global COVID-19 pandemic has only heightened the desperation of those at risk, and deepened the cunning of human traffickers.

If there is any sliver of a silver lining to be seen in the coronavirus cloud that has darkened the world in 2020, a reduction in human trafficking might be suspected. After all, with half the globe locked down, the modern-day slave trade must have at least slowed, if not stalled, right?

Sadly, no. If anything, the global pandemic has only heightened the desperation of those at risk and deepened the cunning of traffickers. For example, the World Bank expects poverty to rise for the first time in 20 years, as circumstances push an additional 88-115 million people into extreme poverty, depending on the severity of economic contraction worldwide.

The World Health Organization issued a statement on October 13 saying:

“The pandemic has decimated jobs and placed millions of livelihoods at risk. As breadwinners lose jobs, fall ill and die, the food security and nutrition of millions of women and men are under threat, with those in low-income countries, particularly the most marginalized populations, which include small-scale farmers and indigenous peoples, being hardest hit.

“With low and irregular incomes and a lack of social support, many of them are spurred to continue working, often in unsafe conditions, thus exposing themselves and their families to additional risks. Further, when experiencing income losses, they may resort to negative coping strategies, such as distress sale of assets, predatory loans or child labor.”

With poverty worsened and government resources stretched to capacity, COVID-19 has widened the crack through which the vulnerable fall—or are pulled through. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) details how COVID-19 has impacted “the capacity of state authorities and non-governmental organizations to provide essential services to the victims of this crime.”

21st Century Slavery & Human Trafficking — Worldwide, over 40 million people are enslaved or trafficked, which 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.

Income, food, housing and health care inequalities have increased in impoverished parts of the world, and these “drivers … increase the risk of sexual and labor exploitation, and are being used by criminal groups to scale-up modern day slavery activities,” warns the distinguished British medical journal The Lancet.

Rather than diminishing it, the ongoing coronavirus crisis has cemented human trafficking as the third biggest illicit trade on the planet, behind only illegal arms and drugs.

As detailed in a previous Gospel for Asia special report on the issue, human trafficking generates an estimated $150 billion a year from the oppressed lives and broken hearts of men, women and children. What sets human trafficking apart from other major issues Gospel for Asia (GFA) has addressed in its series of articles on key global challenges is that it is entirely man-made, both exacerbating and taking advantage of natural factors like disease, economic impoverishment, climate change and the coronavirus.

Photo of forced labor — Those people already working in forced labor conditions may face further hardships because production costs are being squeezed, while more people unable to make ends meet may turn to loan sharks for money and so risk getting caught in a debt pit they can’t climb out of, effectively enslaving them for life.

Exploitation on the Rise

“Instability and lack of access to critical services caused by the pandemic mean that the number of people vulnerable to exploitation by traffickers is rapidly growing,” said U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo as he introduced the government’s 20th annual Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report, which monitors the crime and efforts to combat it.

Mike Pompeo, U.S. Seecretary of State — Mike Pompeo, U.S. Secretary of State Photo by United States Department of State

“The bottom line is that traffickers have not shut down,” Pompeo said elsewhere. “Traffickers are continuing to exploit people. And as vulnerable people become more vulnerable due to COVID, it’s making it easier and easier for traffickers to operate.”

Victims of trafficking are also “disproportionately at risk” of getting COVID-19 for a variety of reasons, according to The Lancet. Among the causes: pre-existing health needs, unregulated and unsafe working environments, over-crowded living conditions, poverty, malnutrition and substance misuse.

A United Nations report reveals just how COVID-19 has made trafficking easier. Travel and border restrictions intended to slow the spread of the virus may have only driven traffickers further underground, it says, while also making victims harder to identify. Additionally, those already working in forced labor conditions may face further hardships because production costs are being squeezed, while more people unable to make ends meet may turn to loan sharks for money and so risk getting caught in a debt pit they can’t climb out of, effectively enslaving them.

Rather than diminishing it, the ongoing coronavirus crisis has cemented human trafficking as the third biggest illicit trade on the planet, behind only illegal arms and drugs.

Meanwhile, children are at heightened risk of exploitation because schools are closed. For many of them, school was both a safe place and one of their only sources for a regular meal. Now they may be left to fend for themselves with parents unable to care for or supervise them at home.

Photo of little girl from Sri Lanka — Nearly all the children in villages like this one in Sri Lanka do not have any parental guidance whatsoever as many come from broken or illiterate families, which makes these kids vulnerable to predation and trafficking. For many of them, school was both a safe place and one of their only sources for a regular meal. Local lockdowns due to COVID have left many to fend for themselves, as parents are unable to care for or supervise them at home, increasing their risk of exploitation.

Online Predators on the Rise

Dark web chatter — Chatter in dark web forums indicate that online offenders see the COVID-19 pandemic as an opportunity to commit more offenses against children.

It’s not only children and young people in poorer nations that are at risk, either. In North America, the pandemic has seen everyone spending even more time online than usual—exposing them to predators who scour the web looking for innocent children.

“It’s easier for traffickers to sit behind a computer screen and actually reach out to multiple people, hoping that one or two bite,” says Karley Church, a human trafficking crisis intervention counselor with Victim Services of Durham Region, near Toronto, Canada.

A spokesman for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said that “chatter in dark web forums indicate that offenders see the pandemic as an opportunity to commit more offenses against children.”

Give Towards Strategic Field Ministries

Your donation enables GFA World national workers to reach out to multitudes of needy people and provide for their most crucial physical and spiritual needs.

About Gospel for Asia

Read the rest of Gospel for Asia’s Special Report: Modern Day Slavery Speeds up Under Cover of COVID-19 – Growing during pandemic: People vulnerable to exploitation — Part 2

Read more about Gospel for Asia, Modern Slavery, and the COVID 19 Pandemic on Patheos from Gospel for Asia.

Learn more by reading these Special Reports from Gospel for Asia:

Child Labor: Not Gone, but Forgotten — Millions of Children Trapped between Extreme Poverty and the Profits of Others
Seeking Justice and Defending Human Rights — Wherever Poverty and Oppression Exist

KP Yohannan has issued two statements about the COVID-19 situation found here and here.

GFA’s Statement About Coronavirus

This Special Report originally appeared on gfa.org.

24 Christian Leaders affirm Gospel for Asia’s integrity and credibility.

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COVID-19 ‘Feeds Growing Evil’ of Human Trafficking, Says Gospel for Asia

December 21, 2020 By GFA Staff Writer

WILLS POINT, TX — Gospel for Asia (GFA World) founded by K.P. Yohannan, which inspired numerous charities like Gospel for Asia Canada – Discussing new report stating how COVID 19 pandemic has “cemented human trafficking as the 3rd biggest illicit trade on the planet.”

COVID-19 is feeding the “growing evil” of human trafficking, pulling more of the world’s children into slavery and sexual exploitation, a new report reveals. The pandemic has “cemented human trafficking as the third biggest illicit trade on the planet, behind illegal arms sales and drugs,” says the report by Texas-based humanitarian agency Gospel for Asia (GFA World).

“The global pandemic has only heightened the desperation of those at risk and deepened the cunning of the traffickers,” says the report, (https://www.gfa.org/press/human-trafficking/), citing worsening poverty and hunger as key drivers of the $150 billion a year global slave trade.

“The horrific exploitation of children and young adults for sex and forced labor is the most vile crime,” said GFA World founder K.P. Yohannan. “We must act now to cut off this growing evil.”

Travel and border restrictions — intended to slow the spread of the virus — have driven traffickers underground and made victims more difficult to identify, the report says. Of the estimated 20-30 million slaves in the world today, four out of every five are women or girls.

The COVID 19 pandemic has "cemented human trafficking as the 3rd biggest illicit trade on the planet," says Gospel for Asia (GFA World) — **COVID-19 ‘FEEDS GROWING EVIL’ OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING:** COVID-19 is feeding the “growing evil” of human trafficking, pulling more of the world’s children into slavery and sexual exploitation, a new report by humanitarian agency Gospel for Asia (GFA World) reveals.

A Wider Net

The surge in online activity due to lockdowns is giving traffickers a wider net to entrap potential victims, including children. Police in Canada warn that “chatter in dark web forums” shows predators view the pandemic as an opportunity to lure children into the sex industry.

In some parts of Asia, traffickers enlist or coerce parents and other relatives to sell their children to “placement agencies” — fronts for domestic slavery.

Predators are even “masquerading as helpers” to find new victims. “Forced prostitution and chosen sex work are going to acquire a new momentum in the post-COVID-19 world,” the report says.

Interpol, the international police agency, says the pandemic “has not blunted the determination of organized crime groups to prey on the vulnerable.”

Traffickers are taking even greater risks, too often resulting in the tragic deaths of their victims. In March, 64 African migrants suffocated in a shipping container; in May, 39 Vietnamese migrants were found dead in a refrigerated truck in England; and in June, a former official in Arkansas pleaded guilty to smuggling women into the U.S. to put their babies up for adoption.

In Europe’s lucrative soccer industry, it’s estimated there are 15,000 trafficking victims every year.

Emergency Interceptors

Faith-based humanitarian groups like GFA World and International Justice Mission are on the frontlines in the fight against slavery — with GFA World’s indigenous workers acting as “emergency interceptors” in city slums and remote villages where millions are easy prey for predators.

“Through vocational training for women, protecting girls by providing safe water access, and our Bridge of Hope children’s program, we’re saving tens of thousands from falling victim to traffickers,” said Yohannan, author of Never Give Up. “This is how we confront the evil of human trafficking head-on, and show people the love of God.”

Read another story on how the Lord is using Gospel for Asia to bring relief to those in need during COVID 19.

Those interested in supporting GFA World’s COVID 19 relief efforts in Asia, should go to: http://www.gfa.org/press/covid-19.

Media interested in interviews with Gospel For Asia should contact Gregg Wooding at InChrist Communications @ 972-567-7660 or gwooding@inchristcommuications.com

About Gospel for Asia

Learn more by reading these Special Reports:

Child Labor: Not Gone, but Forgotten — Millions of Children Trapped between Extreme Poverty and the Profits of Others
Seeking Justice and Defending Human Rights — Wherever Poverty and Oppression Exist

KP Yohannan has issued two statements about the COVID-19 situation found here and here.

GFA’s Statement About Coronavirus

Click here, to read more blogs on Patheos from Gospel for Asia.

Notable News about Gospel for Asia: FoxNews, ChristianPost, NYPost, MissionsBox

Source: GFA World Press Room, COVID-19 ‘Feeds Slave Trade, Sexual Exploitation’ Says Gospel for Asia (GFA World)

Gospel for Asia Says, Global Toilet Crisis ‘Kills More Than COVID-19’

November 24, 2020 By GFA Staff Writer

WILLS POINT, TX – Gospel for Asia (GFA World) founded by K.P. Yohannan, which inspired numerous charities like Gospel for Asia Canada, has warned that more people will die from diseases linked to lack of toilets and poor sanitation than from COVID-19 this year.

So far this year, more than 1.2 million deaths worldwide have been attributed to the pandemic, but it’s likely millions more will die from exposure to diseases carried by human waste — diseases that don’t make the headlines.

As millions across the developing world relieve themselves in the open, raw sewage spawns a multitude of deadly diseases. Excrement attracts flies that quickly spread diarrhea, dysentery, cholera, typhoid, polio, and hepatitis A.

UNICEF, the U.N. children’s agency, says 2.2 million people worldwide will die this year from diarrhea alone — nearly double the number of COVID-19 deaths recorded so far.

Many of those deaths — mostly children under five — could be avoided if the world’s poor had access to safe, sanitary toilets and hand-washing facilities, says Gospel for Asia (GFA World), a Texas-based Christian organization that builds thousands of new toilets across Asia every year.

More to die from diseases linked to lack of toilet & sanitation than from Covid, GFA World reports - fight against open defecation continues — **TOILET CRISIS ‘KILLS MORE THAN COVID-19:’** More people will die from diseases linked to lack of toilets and poor sanitation than from COVID-19 this year, humanitarian agency Gospel for Asia (GFA World) has warned as their shocking new report releases, titled Fight Against Open Defecation Continues. World Toilet Day, an annual awareness event, is Nov. 19.

Report Reveals Toilet Misery

The misery of the 4.2 billion people — over half the world’s population — who don’t have a toilet at home, or safe sanitation, is revealed in a shocking new Gospel for Asia (GFA World) report, Fight Against Open Defecation Continues, marking World Toilet Day on Nov. 19.

Open defecation is when people go to the toilet outside in the open — in the street, in a park, or by a river, for example — a common practice in many poor countries. Just a fleck of human feces might contain 100 million viruses, one million bacteria, and 1,000 parasites that can be transmitted through cuts, skin pores, contaminated water or food.

Even when people have access to public toilets, they’re often unsafe, conditions can be horrible, and many people don’t use them. In many Asia megacities, latrines often flush into open drains that flow along the streets.

“For billions of people around the world, simply going to the toilet is degrading, unhygienic and even dangerous,” said Gospel for Asia (GFA World) founder K.P. Yohannan. In 2018, a three-year-old South African boy fell into a feces-filled pit latrine and drowned. Others risk being attacked or sexually assaulted while using public toilets at night, so they relieve themselves in the open instead.

“It’s easy for us in America to never give it a second thought, because we don’t have to walk a mile or more to the nearest public toilet or pit latrine,” said Yohannan, author of Never Give Up.

‘Catastrophic Health Consequences’

The global “toilet tragedy” has caught the attention of Hollywood actor Matt Damon and India Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who’ve highlighted the catastrophic health consequences.

Dozens of international agencies are working on innovative solutions, including solar-powered toilets that convert human waste into fertilizer.

Last year, Gospel for Asia (GFA World) workers built more than 5,400 toilets and latrines across Asia and educated communities about the importance of using them. “I never imagined that we’d measure the impact of our Christian faith by the number of toilets we build,” said Yohannan, “but the reality is that people see from our actions that God’s people really do care about them.”

Read another story on how the Lord is using Gospel for Asia to bring relief to those in need during COVID 19.

Those interested in supporting GFA World’s COVID 19 relief efforts in Asia, should go to: http://www.gfa.org/press/covid-19.

Media interested in interviews with Gospel For Asia should contact Gregg Wooding at InChrist Communications @ 972-567-7660 or gwooding@inchristcommuications.com

About Gospel for Asia

Learn more by reading these Special Reports:

KP Yohannan has issued two statements about the COVID-19 situation found here and here.

GFA’s Statement About Coronavirus

Click here, to read more blogs on Patheos from Gospel for Asia.

Notable News about Gospel for Asia: FoxNews, ChristianPost, NYPost, MissionsBox

Source: GFA Press Room, Global Toilet Crisis ‘Kills More Than COVID-19’ Says Gospel for Asia (GFA World)

Gospel for Asia Leader K.P. Yohannan Says COVID-19 Hunger is ‘Worse Than the Disease’

November 15, 2020 By GFA Staff Writer

WILLS POINT, TX – Dr. K.P. Yohannan, founder of a major faith-based humanitarian agency, which inspired numerous charities like Gospel for Asia Canada, has warned that a new COVID-19 surge could cause catastrophic starvation in poor nations.

Widespread hunger across Asia caused by the pandemic is proving to be “worse than the disease itself,” said KP Yohannan, president of GFA World.

Yohannan’s warning comes as some countries face a “second wave” of COVID-19 infections, increasing fears of mass starvation as people are unable to go to work.

“For hundreds of millions living in Asia, the threat of starvation is more dangerous than the disease,” he said. “According to the U.N., virus-linked hunger is leading to the deaths of 10,000 more children every month.”

KP Yohannan, leader of Gospel for Asia has warned that a new COVID 19 surge could cause catastrophic hunger & starvation in poor nations. — **COVID-19 ‘STARVATION WARNING:’** The leader of a major faith-based humanitarian agency has warned that a new COVID-19 surge could cause catastrophic starvation in poor nations. Widespread hunger across Asia caused by the pandemic is proving to be “worse than the disease itself,” said K.P. Yohannan, president of Gospel for Asia (GFA World).

Starving ‘Before Their Eyes’

The missions leader and author of Never Give Up said many parents in Asia are watching their children “starving to death before their eyes.”

Massive numbers of day laborers — the poorest of the poor — are especially vulnerable, along with the legions of children who beg on the streets of Asia’s megacities.

“Many, surprisingly, do not fear the virus; they fear the hunger that will come,” said Yohannan, whose Texas-based organization has helped feed nearly 200,000 people since the pandemic began.

160 Million Could ‘Plunge Deeper Into Poverty’

A resurgence of COVID-19 “could push (up to) 160 million people deeper into poverty and hunger,” he said. “As followers of Jesus we need to think deeply about what we can do to help.”

“It’s so easy for us to get caught up in COVID-19 anxiety and overlook the problems that existed before the pandemic,” Yohannan said. “But these problems — such as starvation and homelessness — have only become greater.”

Across Asia — the world’s most populated continent, home to six out of every 10 people on earth — GFA World workers are handing out rice, cooking oil and other food items to help stave off hunger for thousands.

“This is sometimes the only food they’ll get in three days,” Yohannan said. “When people see they’re not alone, that there are others willing to give so that they may live, it gives them hope and shows them that God really cares about them.”

Gospel for Asia (GFA World) asked for prayer for its workers and for “those who are facing this crisis, as we seek to do all we can to help.”

Read another story on how the Lord is using Gospel for Asia to bring relief to those in need during COVID 19.

Those interested in supporting GFA World’s hunger relief efforts in Asia, should go to: http://www.gfa.org/press/covid-19.

Media interested in interviews with Gospel For Asia should contact Gregg Wooding at InChrist Communications @ 972-567-7660 or gwooding@inchristcommuications.com

About Gospel for Asia

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KP Yohannan has issued two statements about the COVID-19 situation found here and here.

GFA’s Statement About Coronavirus

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