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Hi Everyone,
Please:
1) Follow our Twitter account: @GWAPBlog to see scholarships (from a variety of agencies and universities), for both international and US students!
2) Remember to tell us, by commenting below this post, if you (or the person you forwarded the scholarship information to), were successful at getting any of the scholarships listed.
Gillian
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The renown medical journal, The Lancet, issued a warning on January 16,2019, that, worldwide, we should cut our consumption of sugar and red meat by half, or else we won't be able to feed ourselves sustainably by 2050.
Well in Jamaica, the Ministry of Health has been proactive about Jamaicans cutting down on our obesity problem and on our consumption of sugary drinks.
[Christopher Tufton, Health Minister said in 2017, that it will cost Jamaica approximately JMD $77 billion (US $583 million) over the next 15 years, to treat people suffering from cardiovascular-related diseases and diabetes. We can barely afford the JMD $60.3 billion (USD 468.8 million) a year to pay for public health, more-so this amount].
So, the Health Ministry has been running a campaign called "Jamaica Moves" whereby which Jamaicans are being encouraged to exercise for at least thirty (30) minutes per day for five (5) days per week...
...and in conjunction with The Heart Foundation of Jamaica, has had a "Are You Drinking Yourself Sick?"ad campaign running, showing a young lady called Rosie, who is what we call "fluffy" in Jamaica (overweight), consuming up to fifty (50) teaspoonfuls of sugar each day, by means of the sugary drinks she consumes.
The ad has really struck home as it shows Rosie in hospital, surrounded by her family, as she suffers from one of the severe non-communicable diseases e.g. diabetes or high blood pressure, as a result of her sugary-drink consumption.
In response to a World Health Organization mandate in 2018, the Jamaican Government went as far as to force manufacturers of sugary drinks, to cut the sugar in these drinks by at least half, or face being taxed.
(As a result of the "Jamaica Moves" and "Are You Drinking Yourself Sick?" ad campaigns, 71% of Jamaicans surveyed, said that they would be open to taxes being levied on sugary-drink manufacturers and that these taxes be made to contribute to the national health costs for obesity and non-communicable diseases caused by sugary-drink consumption).
Cutting down on the consumption of red meat may have been difficult for some Jamaicans ten (10) years ago, but now, with the prevalence of cancer and heart disease among Jamaicans (these diseases are among the top 10 causes of loss of life in Jamaica), more and more Jamaicans are open to cutting down on red meat.
[According to article, The Dangers of Red Meat, by Dr. Tony Vendryes, renown Jamaican health practitioner, "higher risk of cancer is just one of several health reasons to avoid eating commercial red meat (e.g. bacon, hot dogs, turkey bacon and bologna).
The saturated animal fat found in red meat contributes to heart disease, atherosclerosis (the narrowing and hardening of the arteries), and other inflammatory disorders. Commercial red meat contains contaminants such as heavy metals, pesticides, hormones, antibiotics, and environmental pollutants. These are absorbed into your body when you eat commercial meats"].
This means cutting down on our consumption of pork and goat meat - staples of Jamaican dinners for the middle and upper middle classes and Jamaican Beef Patties...staples of Jamaican lunches for all classes of Jamaicans.
(Yes pork, although touted to be "the other white meat", in the 1987 American ad campaign "Pork. The Other White Meat", by the US Pork Board, was in fact ruled as red meat, by the US Department of Agriculture).
Jamaicans love our pork, especially our Jamaican Jerk Pork and the pigstail and beef we use in our Red Peas Soup and in Jamaican Stew Peas).
So switching from Jerk Pork to Baked Chicken and having just red peas in our Red Peas Soup and Jamaican Stew Peas, has become a natural progression for more and more Jamaicans.
Hopefully more will heed the warning by The Lancet, warnings by health professionals and our Health Ministry and continue to cut down on our consumption of red meat and sugars. Surely we must do so if we plan to live long and healthy lives into 2050 and beyond.
Gillian
Sources Include
1) BBC World News, January 16,2018
2) Article,"Discussions Begin with Manufacturers to Reduce Sugar in Drinks",by Ainsworth Morris, JIS News, September 11,2018
3) Article,"Manufacturers warned to cut the sugar before the gov't takes action", January 12,2018
4) Article,"Cardiovascular Diseases and Diabetes to cost $77 Billion over Next 15 Years",by Ainsworth Morris, JIS (Jamaica Information Service) News, October 25,2017
5) Graph,"What causes the most premature death? - Top 10 causes of years of life lost (YLLs) in 2017 and percent change, 2007-2017, all ages, number", Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, 2017
6) Article,"The Dangers of Red Meat", by Dr. Tony Vendryes, The Jamaica Gleaner, November 3,2015
7) Jamaica GDP figure 2017,Trading Economics.com
8) 2017-18 Jamaica Budget: Ministry of Health, Page 785, in document, Estimates of Expenditure 2017-18
9) What Is Atherosclerosis?, via WebMD.com
10) Article,"Pork. The Other White Meat", Wikipedia
11) Jamaican Red Peas Soup recipe from Stephania Hutchinson, via Cookpad
12) Miss G's Simple Jamaican Stew Peas Recipe via Jamaicans.com
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The popular movie 'Bird Box', now streaming on NetFlix, starring Sandra Bullock and Sarah Paulson,where the stars have to remain blindfolded to keep themselves from seeing visions that encourage them to kill themselves, has led way to the 'Bird Box Challenge'.
The 'Bird Box Challenge' was made popular by YouTuber Jake Paul and involves him blindfolding himself whilst doing various tasks e.g. walking into ongoing traffic and driving...
...Which is exactly what (according to the British Broadcasting Corporation's 'World News'), a 17-year old did on Friday, January 11,2019, when she drove her car unto the highway with a hat over her head and a car crashed into hers.
She wore a hat over her head to carry out the actions in the 'Bird Box Challenge'.
Now, Jake Paul has a rabid YouTube following of nearly 18 million subscribers.
His 'Bird Box Challenge' video was pulled from YouTube on January 2,2019.
Netflix subsequently produced a warning to all their users who were thinking of trying the 'Bird Box Challenge', “not to hurt themselves.”
Really? Not to hurt themselves?
Netflix isn't new to producing TV shows and movies that spark great controversy...in fact, it's a part of their marketing strategy to attract viewers.
(Examples include 'Insatiable', 'To the Bone' and '13 Reasons Why').
So their executives must be grinning at the free publicity that the movie has derived from Jake Paul and his antics on YouTube.
(There are several copycat videos on YouTube showing teens carrying out different Bird Box Challenges of their own e.g. trying to navigate obstacle courses with huge slides in parks with their eyes blindfolded).
One of the policemen who observed the results of the car crash says that it's the most preposterous thing that he has seen.
(The police have requested that the teen be charged with reckless driving).
I can tell you that this teen will not be the last person to act dangerously as a result of the 'Bird Box Challenge'...
...Well, Girl With a Purpose girls and women, please ensure that you are not one of them...
...You are not bird brains - not because something is popular means that you should do it.
After all, if you saw ten people jumping over a cliff, would you join them?
No you wouldn't.
Movies are just make-believe, fiction.
YouTube is an outlet for people to express their opinions, right or wrong, of their view of the world.
No matter the artificial high you get or experience from watching a movie or YouTube video, think things through carefully before following any actions encouraged in these and other media.
You should ask yourselves, "what are the rewards (the high) or the consequences (death) of my actions, should I do this thing, that the movie/YouTube video purports, now and in the future?"
If the consequences outweigh the rewards, then don't do it.
This car crash could have lead to injury or even death for the 17-year-old girl and others. (No one was seriously injured as a result of the crash).
It has no doubt led to destruction of property, (just look at the pictures of the car that she was in and the car that drove into hers in article,"US driver in 'Bird Box blindfold' crashes in Utah",BBC World News (US & Canada), January 11,2019.
The damaged property can be replaced (at a huge cost), but could she have replaced her limb or her life, or those of others?
Think before you do, young people...just think!
Nuff said (Jamaican meaning, enough has been said).
Gillian
Sources Include:
1) Official 'Bird Box' Trailer, via YouTube
2) British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) World News, January 11,2019
3) Article, "Netflix's most controversial movies and TV shows", via Looper.com
4) Article,"US driver in 'Bird Box blindfold' crashes in Utah",BBC World News (US & Canada), January 11,2019
5) Article, "YouTuber Jake Paul walks through traffic, drives blindfolded in ‘Bird Box’ challenge", by Katie Scott, GlobalNews.ca
6) Jake Paul Productions subscriber count via SocialBlade.com
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