In what ways are followers of Jesus demonstrating God's loving character through caring for the sick, preventing disease, and even attempting to eradicate some diseases?
Photo credit: Sanofi Pasteur - Flickr
by Beth Snodderly, Editor
Ralph Winter founded the Roberta Winter Institute to “declare war on [the] sources of disease, in addition to being kind helpfully to sick people.”[1] Although Winter wrote in 2002 that “Virtually no one is trying to figure out how to eradicate pathogens” (Winter 2008, 174), that is no longer true. WCIU Board member, Dr. Richard Gunasekera, is carrying on Winter’s vision through his research with nano molecules, first at Rice University and now at Biola University.
Resources compiled by Timothy Skinner, MLS.
Read MoreResources compiled by Timothy Skinner, MLS.
Read MoreResources compiled by Timothy Skinner, MLS.
Read MoreA post shared from the Roberta Winter Institute website.
There is a considerable list of diseases which we know how to extinguish, but haven’t taken the trouble to extinguish. Below are five reasons why disease eradication is worth the trouble and five reasons why the body of Christ should play a significant role.
Read MoreResources compiled by Timothy Skinner, MLS.
Read Moreby Thu Ha Chow, WCIU student
As this momentous year comes to a close, I cannot help but reflect on how a virus with such a small beginning could cause so much suffering and devastation. Its path is altering the lives of every human being on this planet. It is a reminder that we should not overlook the evil which we fight, and yet we must also see that where evil prevails, grace is even greater.
Read Moreby Brian Lowther and Beth Snodderly
People are being wounded physically, psychologically, and spiritually by activities instigated by the adversary, the devil, the sniper, that “ancient foe” that seeks “to work us woe.” In this cosmic battle with the prince of darkness, health care workers need affirmation and support from the body of Christ so they do not grow “weary in doing good” (Gal. 6:9).
Read Moreby Richard Gunasekera, PhD
DNA is now degenerate, leading the entire human race to experience disease and death. The 2012 ENCODE Project confirms that the 98% non-coding DNA have causality to disease which may suggest corruption of the genome by the deceiver. Hence, the causality of genetic diseases (from inherited genes or from random mutations which lead to cancer), infectious agents such as retroviruses which insert their DNA into the very genome of other organisms, causing suffering, pain, and death, could be, in turn, attributed to the “works of the devil.”
Read Moreby May Nor Clara Cheng
As a survivor of childhood polio, Dr. Cheng is particularly at risk during the coronavirus crisis. In this Reflection she shares her initial fears, how she found peace, and her prayer for vulnerable people around the world.
Read Moreby Mike Soderling, MD, MBA
The present global crisis ignited by the jump of COVID19 from being a relatively harmless and unknown animal inhabitant to destroyer of human life should not be seen as the work of God. Satan is ultimately the cause of such calamities in the world. He loves to see God's people and His creation destroyed.
Read Moreby Kalemba Mwambazambi
This article is in French. Copy and paste into Google Translate to read one segment of this article at a time (3900 character limit per translation). WCIU Adjunct professor, Moussa Bongoyok, advises that this article will be very useful in the African context.
Adequate use of prenatal and postnatal health care services is essential for the health of women / mothers and children. Research shows that the lives of almost three million babies and mothers can be saved every year with quality care coverage. About eight million children die before their fifth year, the majority of whom are in the underdeveloped countries (WHO 2016). Research estimates that the risk of dying for a woman living in an underdeveloped country, from a pregnancy-related cause, is about 25 times higher compared to that living in a developed country. Jow, Simon and Jelka (2015) estimate that four million children die in the first four weeks after birth. Hence, the need to end preventable deaths of women / mothers and children.
Read MoreResources compiled by Timothy Skinner, MLS.
Read MoreResources compiled by Timothy Skinner, MLS.
Read Moreby Kalemba Mwambazambi
The spread of HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa poses an enormous challenge for public health providers in countries that are already weakened by many other evils such as poverty, wars, corruption, social injustice, and political conflicts. The HIV/AIDS pandemic is a drop of water in a bucket already overflowing. Within the context of African concepts of family, sexuality, and of the pandemic itself, this article analyzes the tasks of public health providers, communities, and government. It emphasizes the role of families and the church in stemming the exponential spread of this pandemic.
Read MoreConsequences and Cures for Inadequate Waste Disposal in Hospitals in Camaroon
by Samuel-Béni Ella Ella and Louise Chrésance Silinou
This article is in French. Copy and paste into Google Translate to read one segment of this article at a time (3900 character limit per translation).
The authors are associated with the Institut Universitaire de Développement International (Francophone University of International Development) founded by Moussa Bongoyok with the assistance of WCIU.
The World Health Organization (WHO 2011) reports that inadequate disposal of hospital waste has caused 21 million hepatitis B virus infections, 2 million for hepatitis C and at least 260,000 HIV infections worldwide in 2000. The same study shows that 18 to 64% of health facilities south of the Sahara do not correctly dispose of their waste, which nevertheless constitutes "a reservoir of potentially dangerous microorganisms capable of infecting hospital patients, staff and the general public ”(WHO 2015). To remedy this dangerous situation, the Cameroonian State has taken political and financial measures.
Read MoreResources compiled by Timothy Skinner, MLS.
Read Moreby Ngaroua David, M.D.
English Abstract
In Camaroon, Central Africa, the practice of traditional medicine provides social and psychological benefits not available through modern medicine. However, it also poses risks due to the lack of medical training by the traditional healers. The general objective of this study was to evaluate the healthcare management of bone fractures by traditional doctors. Massage and immobilization constituted the most common forms of treatment. In the hospitals, we have noticed several cases of complications after traditional treatment of bone fractures. The author concludes that it is mandatory to put in place a legal framework for the practice of traditional medicine so as to limit the risks and to integrate the cultural benefits of traditional medicine into the health system of Cameroon.
Résumé en français
La médecine traditionnelle dans la ville de Bertoua et ses environs est très sollicitée par la population lors de la survenue des fractures. L’Organisation mondiale de la santé (OMS) la définie comme étant «la somme totale des connaissances, compétences et pratiques qui reposent, rationnellement ou non, sur les théories, croyances et expériences propres à une culture et qui sont utilisées pour maintenir les êtres humains en santé ainsi que pour prévenir, diagnostiquer, traiter et guérir des maladies physiques et mentales». L’objectif général était d’évaluer la prise en charge des fractures par les médecins traditionnels. La collecte de données a été faite dans ces localités suscitées pendant quatre (4) mois. Nous avons obtenu un échantillon total de 111 parmi lesquels 19 médecins traditionnels. 59,8% des patients ont opté pour la médecine traditionnelle. Les fractures fermées (70,7%) sont majoritaire. Tous les médecins traditionnels ont reconnu avoir fait face à des complications. Les massages et immobilisations constituaient le mode de traitement les plus employés avec 84,2%. Il est donc impératif de mettre en place un cadre légal de l’exercice de cette médecine, et l’intégrer véritablement la médecine traditionnelle au système de santé camerounais.
Read Moreby Brian Lowther
“There is absolutely no evidence I know of in all the world of any theologically driven interest in combating disease at its origins. I have not found any work of theology, any chapter, any paragraph, nor to my knowledge any sermon urging us—whether in the pew or in professional missions—to go to battle against the many disease pathogens we now know to be eradicable.” —Ralph D. Winter, December 2001
This quote has inspired much of our effort here in the Roberta Winter Institute. It has also compelled us to search high and low to prove this notion wrong. In recent years a few initiatives addressing malaria have cropped up; some led by Christian groups.
Read Moreby Ralph D. Winter
Thursday, April 25th was World Malaria Day 2019.
World Health Organization: After more than a decade of steady advances in fighting malaria, progress has leveled off. According to WHO’s latest World malaria report, no significant gains were made in reducing malaria cases in the period 2015 to 2017. The estimated number of malaria deaths in 2017, at 435 000, remained virtually unchanged over the previous year.
Ralph D. Winter: Some will say, “What in the world could microbes have to do with the Kingdom of God or global evangelism?” The answer is simple. Distorted microbes war against the Kingdom of God. Distorted genes make animals violent and destructive. Destructive parasites kill off many varieties of plant and animal life, as well as, by the malarial parasite, 1.2 million people a year, most of them children—four of whom die every minute from malaria alone. All this massive damage to the purposes of the Kingdom of God amounts to noise so loud that people can’t hear what we are preaching to them.
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