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5 Steps to Move From Employee to Entrepreneur
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Have you been considering quitting your day job in favor of starting a business? Have you just lost your job and are currently exploring alternative ways of earning a living? Have you always dreamt of owning your own business some day?

Before you take the leap of faith into self-employment, consider these 5 steps:
1. Get clear on your goals/passions – It’s not enough to decide to become a business owner. There are several questions and things to consider before you move forward in becoming a business owner. You will need to think about what kind of business you wish to run. You`ll need to determine if you wish to grow it from scratch, buy an existing business or purchase an available franchise. But even before you decide that- you should think about how the business will fit in with the rest of your life. Running a business can be a huge commitment of time and money. So ask yourself what do you enjoy doing or what will bring you joy? You will spend much of your day on your business so it’s a good idea for the business to provide work you actually enjoy doing. Ask yourself what you are most passionate about? What would you love to do? What is your dream job/business?
2. Do your research/homework – Don’t make any rash or impulsive decisions and don’t leave your day job until you are absolutely sure of what you want to do and have a plan for doing it. Take the time to do good research by researching the industry, the marketplace, your potential target clients, your competitors. Do proper business research including a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis. Get a good handle on projected revenues and realistic operating costs as well as an understanding on how long it will take to breakeven and generate more revenues than expenses. Identify your personal strengths and skills and determine if there are any skills gaps. Determine how you will close any skill gaps or lack of expertise. Which gaps can be closed through skills training? Which gaps can be closed through recruiting the right people? Which gaps can be closed through coaching or mentoring? Determine what options and opportunities are available to you right now?
3. Learn from others’ mistakes – There is no shortage of people who have started or run a business. Speak to as many people as you can who have gone before you. Learn what you can about what works, what doesn’t, and what mistakes others have made. Don’t waste valuable time and money. Be open to hearing others` perspectives on what they would have done differently. Hindsight is always 20/20.
4. Business Plan ahead – Do the work and develop a business plan. While it may be a lot of work, it will be time well spent and most financial institutions will require one if you are searching for financing. The process of business planning is not only to prove to the bank that your business will be a success, it’s also a roadmap for you to follow to ensure success. Running your business finances can be like running your weekly, monthly or yearly personal budget – so if you haven’t developed good budgeting and financial management skills, it might be particularly challenging and doubly important to have a solid business plan.
5. Hire a mentor – Starting and running a business can be challenging or even lonely at times. In addition to the day to day operations of the business, you may be mentally or emotionally overwhelmed by being a business owner. Having a safe place to go to for advice, guidance, and accountability or simply as a sounding board can be just what you need to help you make the transition into entrepreurship easier and smoother. Good coaching and mentoring can really help you fast track your transition.
While there are many advantages to being an entrepreneur, it`s important for you to also consider the downside of self-employment. Become a business owner armed with as much information, skills and tools you can to ensure a successful transition from employee to entrepreneur.

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July 27, 2022
The Sorry State Of Nigeria’s Judiciary Among Others Makes The Battle Cry For A Revolution Inevitable By Francis Adewale

Lawyers

“Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable.”
– President John F. Kennedy (1962)

This week may be one of the worst weeks for Nigerian judiciary and they might have made the much vaunted Sowore’s revolution inevitable. The first salvo was the list of judges released by the National Judicial Council replete with the names of their sons and daughters as well as hangers on. Second is the farcical decision in EFCC vs Kalu where the Supreme Court “suo motu” created a new section to the constitution of Nigeria by vacating a conviction duly given under an extant law. The strange rationale by the Supreme Court is that the presiding judge, now elevated to the Court of Appeal should not have pronounced the sentence. The Court conveniently ignored the fact that the accused counsel had invited the judge to come back and continue the hearing by a formal letter!

Gone are the days when Nigerian judiciary is famously celebrated as the last bastion of defense for the common man. The days of Kayode Esho, Chukwudifu Oputa, Muhammed Uwais is long gone. Our judiciary is no more like Caesar’s wife, above board. The problem however is not necessarily down to the hydra headed monster of corruption alone but a more sinister evil called, nepotism. It is my humble opinion that an opaque process for selection of judges led us to where we found ourselves this week. And the problem did not start with the current chief justice. The dysfunction and bastardization have been long in coming, and as we will find out in this piece, the cancer has eaten deep into the fabric of this nation. The revolution is inevitable.

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What precipitate this write up is a social media post by a good friend of mine and I obtained his permission to repost his comment with my personal edits:
“It took Orji Kalu only 4 months including Covid lockdown challenge to move from the High Court to Supreme Court to get his so called sound judgment from Supreme Court while it took ten years to get his case completed at the High Court level. Ten good years! And we are told justice in Nigeria is not cash and carry? The Supreme Court is preparing the ground for a revolution and very soon something extraordinary will take place. The same Supreme Court that will give 2021 and 2022 court date for poor defendants, sat and summarily decide a case within 4 months while cases of those facing a life sentence languish in the labyrinth of jungle justice!”

My first response to the post, is to retort that the problem did not start with judiciary, but they seem to have led the “nunc dimitis” for the internment of democracy in Nigeria. The judiciary may have pushed us to the praecipe but they were not the only one. We all recalled the impunity days of PDP rule and how they ride roughshod on people’s right, celebrating acquisition of jets obtained from corrupt practices while hordes of masses suffer the indignity of scrapping for foods from the gutter. Towards the end of that era, we all thought, if we can just get a man of integrity into Aso Rock, someone who will brook no atom of corruption, we will change the country. The election of 2015 seems to have lulled Nigerians into thinking that all we need is someone or a duo with integrity, so we elect Buhari and Osinbajo, a puritan and a pastor and went home satiated. What we were not prepared for or more appositely choose to ignore is the fact that the vehicle that brought them into governance is none other than the decrepit system that PDP used to feather their nest. In the first 4 years, we were told that the problem is with the National Assembly where the legistlooters shifted their control of the vortex of power in Abuja, opposing every anti-corruption moves of the executives. Then come the last election where the ruling party now controls the executive and legislative arm, but corruption runs through the gamut of the judiciary and Aso Rock looks the other way while nepotism festers in its rank.

It is as if the cancer has completely swallowed up the entire fabric of the nation. Cases involving the poor dragged on for years while those who can afford senior advocate can get quick justice. Many warned that this will sound the death knell of democracy in Nigeria. Every attempt to even build on free and fair election has been truncated by the judiciary. What with the recent confounding judgment from Imo and Bayelsa. Our two gargantuan political parties now owned our judiciary lock, stock and barrel. They sit in smoke filled rooms to determine who will be governors, legislators and judges, and those who will play ball are readily appointed as pawns in the chest board of the Nigerian ruling class, wives, nephews, cousins, sons and daughters are made judges and senior advocates overnight without recourse to any modicum of meritocracy. A friend of mine recently quipped that the problem of nepotism is not just that it defeats meritocracy and breeds mediocrity but that it infects the entire body politics and renders it comatose. Corruption can be traced, and ill-gotten wealth recovered but nepotism is more sinister. Those who obtain position of power and authority through nepotism hold fealty only to their masters who appointed them. Such appointee will readily twist the constitution, made up section that does not exist all at the behest of their “godfather”. It is insidious and evil.

I graduated from Nigerian Law School 30 years ago, after an excellent stint at Great Ife. My class at Ife, drawn from the north, east, west middle belt and south-south has in its rank some of the best legal minds any country will be proud of. We graduated with high hopes to take on the world and change the land. Few of us found ourselves abroad on scholarship where we flourish and excel. Those in legal practice in Nigeria, either at the federal or state ministry of justice or private practice are the ones my heart bleeds for, especially those without access to members of the National Judicial Council. I have had the privilege to advance my career abroad as an attorney and public defender. I frequently sit on panels that recommend colleagues for appointment as judges in a fair, open and transparent process; something my colleagues in Nigeria could only dream of.

When I look at the state of Nigerian legal practice my heart bleeds. The career growth of colleagues in the legal profession in Nigeria is stunted not for lack of excellence but influence in the right place. Influence peddling is an art form in Nigeria and politicians used to have the exclusive preserve of selling it to the highest bidder, but our Judicial Council seems to have mastered the art. The problem will not be this pronounced if the sons and daughters they are foisting on Nigerian judiciary are steeped in the Nigerian experience or have a modicum of merit. As many of my colleagues are apt to complain, majority of the recent appointees hardly spend few years in Nigeria. They all went to schools abroad. Totally devoid of the Nigerian experience, and constantly removed from the everyday life Nigerians suffers under. Majority of them lives in the gilded mansions of their forbears in Abuja and other state capitals, where they are rarely touched by the “better angels of our nature” to use the phrase coined by Abraham Lincoln. It is therefore no surprise that they care only for what their “godfather” demand.

Let me however warns that the biggest mistake we could make is to think that the rot is only in the heart of our judiciary. Think again. Nepotism is next door, next street, next town and everywhere in Nigeria. It rampages through the land, be it North, East or West. Just look at our churches and mosques, who do you see minister or lead the prayers when the founder/visioner is not around? You guess right, if you say their sons and daughters. Gone are the days when Pa Fadayomi push to have a meritorious doctor of aerodynamics succeed him. Gone are the days when the leader of the faithful in Nigeria is selected by their aptitude in the knowledge of the Quaran. Nowadays, the exit of the leader is the beginning of the reign of the progeny. It has infected our colleges and universities, scholarship and opportunities that used to be available on merit are now exclusive preserve of the vice chancelor’s children and family members. Woe betide the school senate members that dare ask questions. Advertisement for jobs that has already been reserved for the children of the privileged are means to extort money in the form of application fees a la Abba Moro immigration recruitment scheme. A recent recruitment without advertisement at our apex bank reported by Sahara Reporters shows that successful applicants names were picked out of the rolodex of the governor. Commercial Banks staff are not an exemption, they are either recruited based on sex appeal or influential ministers/senators’ “recommendation” which doesn’t come easy for the educated but less privileged applicants.

A friend concluded an animated discussion on social media on this issue with a distinctively Nigerian resignation: “It is clear that those who do not want things to work properly in Nigeria are more powerful than those who are working towards finding solutions to our problems.” Again, my response is what do we have to lose if we embrace Omoyele Sowore’s revolution, even with its youthful disdain for experience? Especially when our current experienced leadership seems to treat the Nigerian masses with contempt. Look at it this way: They do not need our votes to win election, as they could procure midnight judgment in Abuja a la Bayelsa and Imo. They do not need to legislate to fill any lacunae in our constitutional experience as the Supreme Court proved in Kalu’s case. In fact, as long as oil flows and they have the means to fill their Cayman Island bank accounts, we may as well not exist. Greed and avarice have become the directive principle of Nigerian ruling class. To rescue ourselves from their vice grip, we need revolution now!

Francis Adewale
Tioluwanimi@gmail.com

Opinion

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May 9, 2020
No Evidence That Shekau Received €5m Foreign Fund From An NGO

Boko Haram Terrorists

Fact-checkers at HumAngle online newspaper have described a news report published on Opera News that Abubakar Shekau’s faction of Boko Haram was in disarray after it received a donation of five mIllion euros from an “unidentified” international non-governmental organisation as false.

The publication claimed that senior members of the group have also turned against each other over how the fund should be shared within the group.

The story claimed that a military source said “Shekau is getting blind as such only the very close ones of his aides have access to him. The issue of €5m is causing serious disaffection in their camps.

“Shekau has been receiving such funding in the past and he was never able to build his terror infrastructure beyond what is currently being dismantled. Our commanders are not concerned that he is still defrauding those sponsoring him, if there is any concern it is that we should be able to capture him before his own fighters kill him,” the military source said as claimed by the news report.

Boko Haram Terrorists

But according to HumAngle newspaper, the Director of Nigerian Army Public Relations, Sagir Musa, when contacted to verify the claim said he was not aware of either the “verified intelligence reports” or the claim that Shekau received five million euros foreign fund through an NGO in the North-East.

The newspaper also said it searched autogist.com, the blog that the news was attributed to but could not find the story published on the blog.

“Fact-checkers at HumAngle contacted the Director of Nigerian Army Public Relations, Sagir Musa, to confirm the veracity of the claim and he said he was not aware of either the “verified intelligence reports” or the claim that Shekau received five million euros foreign fund through an NGO in the North-East.

“We searched autogist.com, the blog that the news was attributed to but could not find the story published on the blog. Also, no reliable medium reporting terrorism published the story. Other conflict and insurgency reporters were contacted by HumAngle but none was aware of the “verified intelligence report”.

“As the name of the NGO was not disclosed, it became difficult to trace its operation history.

“However, Nigeria’s military had suspended several NGOs from operating in the North-East following allegations of collaborating with the terrorist organisation. But no NGO has ever been charged to court by the authorities and the suspended NGOs were later allowed to resume operations in the region.

“Scholars and experts on Boko Haram have suggested different methods of terrorism financing, from state sponsorship to external support by other terror groups like ISIS and Alqa’eda. But Shekau’s faction of Boko Haram relies on self-funding streams through fishing, farming, crowdfunding, extortion, taxation, raids and ransom taking to finance its operations,” the newspaper published.

Quoting a report on Boko Haram sources of funding, it continued, “Much of Boko Haram’s funds are transported through human cash couriers, which are able to move rather easily between the porous borders of Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon and Chad… very little evidence of either Gulf or other foreign funding exists,” a report on Boko Haram sources of funding concluded.

“Due to the strict surveillance of monetary operations to avoid terrorist financing in Nigeria, financial regulations have forced Boko Haram to avoid remittances of funds online. Such a huge amount is not possible to be transferred without its being intercepted by international and local intelligence platforms.”

The newspaper further said Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit follows any suspicious transaction with the aim of curbing terrorism financing.

“It collates information of all beneficiaries of humanitarian assistance to avert financing of terrorism through covert operations, thus making it impossible for any NGO to follow “previous channels and beneficiaries’ templates” of funding terrorism as claimed by the report.

“Humanitarian organisations work hand in hand with EFFC Department of Special Control against Money Laundering (SCUML) to checkmate their activities to curb terrorism financing, according to Abdurrashid Ibrahim a worker at the financial unit of an NGO in the North-East.

“Any transaction from five million naira must pass through a special control unit against money laundering (SCUML) clearance process be it for individual or corporate organisation,” he said.

Furthermore, there is no evidence that an NGO was allowed to operate after the military discovered that “Shekau has been receiving such funding in the past” as claimed by the news.

According to HumAngle findings, Abubakar Shekau does not operate or rely on an advisory council (Shura).

He is reported to be ruthless and brutal to any opposition within the group, making it unlikely for any Boko Haram commander to disagree with the leader.

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May 9, 2020
My Uncle Died Of Coronavirus Symptoms, His Wife Now Sick But NCDC Failed To Respond, Kano Resident Says

A resident of Kano State has accused the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control of ignoring calls made to their lines since she lost her uncle, who was exhibiting COVID-19 symptoms on Thursday night.

The resident, identified as @Nabeeylarh2, said the NCDC in Kano State had refused to move in to test or evacuate those, who might have been infected despite so many calls to their hotlines.

@Nabeeylarh2 said, “My uncle died last night of COVID-19 symptoms and his wife, my aunt, has been exhibiting symptoms as well. We have contacted NCDC since morning to come to her but we haven’t seen anyone.

“We did (called NCDC) they weren’t picking at first and when they finally did around 9pm they told us they would come but no one came. We called again around 4pm and they told us they would come but they don’t know when. We have been waiting ever since.

My uncle died last night of covid-19 symptoms and his wife my aunt has been exhibiting symptoms as well we have contacted @NCDCgov since morning to come to her but we haven’t seen anyone

— Nabeeylarh (@Nabeeylarh2) May 7, 2020

“Please, we need your help urgently @NCDCgov. My aunt is deteriorating every passing minute. Help needed urgently.”

Please we need your help urgently @NCDCgov my aunt is deteriorating every passing minute her name is Maryam this is her address Medile Kano. Tilba junction. Help needed urgently!!!!

— Nabeeylarh (@Nabeeylarh2) May 7, 2020

Kano has recorded over 300 cases in the past weeks, causing many deaths.

The state is the second highest hit state with 482 COVID-19 cases so far.

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May 9, 2020
The ‘Great Fall’ and the road to recovery

The economic effects unleashed by the COVID-19 pandemic defy conventional labels. Here’s how we’ll move forward.

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May 9, 2020
WHO urges countries to move quickly to save lives from malaria in sub-Saharan Africa

Severe disruptions to insecticide-treated net campaigns and in access to antimalarial medicines could lead to a doubling in the number of malaria deaths in sub-Saharan Africa this year compared to 2018, according to a new modelling analysis released by
WHO and partners ahead of World Malaria Day (25 April).

WHO urges countries to move fast and distribute malaria prevention and treatment tools at this stage of the COVID-19 outbreak in sub-Saharan Africa, and to do their utmost to safely maintain these essential malaria control services.

The analysis considers nine scenarios for potential disruptions in access to core malaria control tools during the pandemic in 41 countries, and the resulting increases that may be seen in cases and deaths.

Under the worst-case scenario, in which all insecticide-treated net (ITN) campaigns are suspended and there is a 75% reduction in access to effective antimalarial medicines, the estimated tally of malaria deaths in sub-Saharan Africa in 2020 would reach
769 000, twice the number of deaths reported in the region in 2018. This would represent a return to malaria mortality levels last seen 20 years ago.

According to the World malaria report 2019, sub-Saharan Africa accounted for approximately 93% of all malaria cases and 94% of deaths in 2018. More than two-thirds of deaths were among children under the age of five.

A window of opportunity

To date, the number of reported cases of COVID-19 in sub-Saharan Africa has represented only a small proportion of the global total, though cases are increasing every week. This means that countries across the region have a critical window of opportunity
to minimize disruptions in malaria prevention and treatment and save lives at this stage of the COVID-19 outbreak.

Mass vector control campaigns should be accelerated, while ensuring that they are deployed in ways that protect health workers and communities against potential COVID-19 transmission. WHO and partners commend the leaders of Benin, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone and Chad
for initiating ITN campaigns during the pandemic. Other countries are adapting their net distribution strategies to ensure households receive the nets as quickly and safely as possible.

Preventive therapies for pregnant women and children must be maintained. The provision of prompt diagnostic testing and effective antimalarial medicines are also essential to prevent a mild case of malaria from progressing to severe illness and death.

WHO and partners have developed guidance to ensure that those suffering from malaria can safely receive the care they need within the package of essential health services to be delivered in COVID-19 settings. Tailoring malaria interventions in COVID-19 response includes guidance on the prevention of infection through vector control and chemoprevention, testing, treatment of cases, clinical services, supply chain and laboratory activities.

Note to the editor

The modelling analysis was conducted by WHO in close collaboration with partners, including PATH, the Malaria Atlas Project and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The analysis is subject to uncertainties. It does not consider, for example, the effects of an interruption in indoor residual spraying or seasonal malaria chemoprevention (except in Burkina Faso); a suspension of these core malaria prevention tools would
also lead to considerable loss of life.

In addition, there is limited understanding of the spread of COVID-19, its epidemiology and interactions with malaria. The model will be updated as such data become available, and countries will be provided with relevant information to tailor their responses
accordingly.

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May 9, 2020
Little green invaders: how parakeets conquered the world

Move over Martians, Earth has already been invaded by little green aliens, but how did parakeets become one of the most successful invasive species ever?

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April 11, 2020
UFC 249 postponed again

LOS ANGELES: The Ultimate Fighting Championship on Thursday scrapped controversial plans to stage a fight card later this month as the United States battles the coronavirus pandemic.

The mixed martial arts organisation had planned to hold UFC 249 without fans at an undisclosed location, reportedly an Indian tribal reservation in California.

However in an abrupt U-turn on Thursday, UFC said it had postponed the event at the request of broadcasters ESPN.

“While the organisation was fully prepared to proceed with UFC 249, ESPN has requested the postponement of the event and subsequent bouts until further notice in light of the COVID-19 pandemic,“ a UFC statement said.

“UFC looks forward to resuming the full live events schedule as soon as possible.”

The New York Times reported on Wednesday that UFC chief Dana White planned to hold the event at the Tachi Palace Resort Casino in central California on April 18.

By staging the event on tribal land, the UFC could have sidestepped state guidelines aimed at halting the spread of COVID-19 infections that have brought sports to a standstill.

However the move met with resistance from California Senator Dianne Feinstein, who urged the UFC to postpone.

“This event would involve dozens of individuals flying to California and driving to a casino for a purpose no one can honestly claim is essential,“ Feinstein said in a statement.

“Going ahead with this event is not the right move.”

The Ultimate Fighting Championship has already postponed three events after officials were unable to find venues to stage fights amid restrictions put in place to combat the COVID-19 pandemic. – AFP

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April 10, 2020
WhatsApp tightens sharing limits to curb virus misinformation

SAN FRANCISCO: WhatsApp on Tuesday placed new limits on message forwarding as part of an effort to curb the spread of misinformation about the coronavirus pandemic.

The new policy limits users to forwarding certain messages to one “chat” at a time, aiming to limit the rapid propagation of content that is provocative but likely to be false.

The Facebook-owned messaging platform said it took the action to enable people to concentrate on personal and private communications during the health crisis.

In recent weeks, “we’ve seen a significant increase in the amount of forwarding which users have told us can feel overwhelming and can contribute to the spread of misinformation,“ WhatsApp said in a blog post.

“We believe it’s important to slow the spread of these messages down to keep WhatsApp a place for personal conversation.”

Last year, WhatsApp set limits on forwarded messages to five chats at a time, “to constrain virality,“ responding to events in India where the rapid proliferation of unverified information led to mob violence.

The new policy applies to messages forwarded “many times” and marked with a double-arrow, indicating that it did not originate from a close contact, according to WhatsApp.

“In effect, these messages are less personal compared to typical messages sent on WhatsApp,“ the blog said.

“We are now introducing a limit so that these messages can only be forwarded to one chat at a time.”

Damian Collins, a British member of parliament and co-founder of the Infotagion fact-check blog, called the move “a timely intervention,“ noting that WhatsApp was being used to spread recent hoaxes that 5G wireless networks were spreading the virus.

“The online conspiracy theories about #5G exposed last week, and their real-life consequences, are a clear call to fight disinformation about #COVID19,“ Collins tweeted.

“A lot of the false content sent to us at @infotagion came from @WhatsApp.”

Scrambling to stop hoaxes

WhatsApp along with its parent Facebook have been scrambling to curb an explosion of rumors and hoaxes about the coronavirus and at the same time seeking to promote verified content.

With more than a billion users worldwide, WhatsApp has become a key source of information and communication during the pandemic.

Facebook said last month it has nearly doubled server capacity to power WhatsApp as people in isolation place more voice and video calls using the popular messaging service.

But WhatsApp has also been used to spread inaccurate information about the Covid-19 outbreak including about untested treatments.

Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar last month warned people against sharing unverified coronavirus information on the messaging platform.

“These messages are scaring and confusing people and causing real damage. Please get your info from official, trusted sources,“ the leader tweeted.

One problem faced by the messaging service is that the encrypted information is seen only by the sender and recipient, making it harder for fact-checkers to debunk.

WhatsApp said that as part of its efforts to fight the spread of false information, it was working with the World Health Organization and some 20 national health ministries, “to help connect people with accurate information.”

The platform has been funding fact checking organizations and created a Coronavirus Information Hub within the app. – AFP

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April 10, 2020
Strengthening accountability to end TB
WHO today released a Checklist to enable Member States and their partners to assess the status of work at the national level to strengthen accountability to End TB, principally: national commitments made, actions taken on those commitments, monitoring & reporting approaches, and the nature of any high-level review mechanisms. The Checklist has been developed in response to requests from Member States, regions, civil society and partners as a tool to support the adaptation and implementation of the WHO Multisectoral Accountability Framework (MAF-TB) released in 2019. It responds also to the UN General Assembly request to WHO to ensure implementation of the Framework.

There are four components of the MAF-TB that form a cycle for strengthening accountability: Commitments, Actions, Monitoring and Reporting, and Review, that were released during the World Health Assembly in May, 2019. In the political declaration of the first UN high-level meeting on TB, world leaders called for WHO to finalize the framework and ensure its implementation in 2019.

After its publication in May, 2019, WHO began work with pathfinding country counterparts who were seeking to move ahead on key elements including, among others: formal adoption of country-specific targets for 2022 for increased TB case detection and treatment in line with the global targets in the political declaration; updating or development of new national TB strategic plans based on 2022 and 2030 targets and other new commitments; coordination platforms across sectors and stakeholders; formalizing engagement with civil society across End TB efforts; producing robust performance reports; and, using those reports to inform high-level review bodies that will assess and drive faster progress. Based on the MAF-TB document, relevant country experiences, and specific requests from countries and partners, WHO developed the MAF-TB Checklist. The Checklist is especially relevant for high TB burden countries, but has content relevant to all countries. The appropriateness of different approaches may vary, according to national constitutional, legal and/or regulatory frameworks or other relevant factors.

The MAF-TB Checklist has three annexes on:
1. engagement across government ministries and bodies;
2. engagement of civil society and affected communities; and,
3. adoption and implementation of WHO TB guidance.
In releasing this MAF-TB Checklist today, Dr Tereza Kasaeva, Director of the WHO Global TB Programme noted, “At this enormously difficult time, all countries and partners are focused on the COVID-19 pandemic. Lessons learnt from ongoing TB programmes are helping the response. Likewise, TB efforts will benefit from learning underway on collaboration, innovation and accountability in confronting the virus.”

WHO will be helping Ministries of Health and partners to use the Checklist, hold related consultations and move forward with more effective collaboration and review mechanisms. The WHO Civil Society Task Force on TB also will support countries and civil society partners, using the Checklist. Progress in strengthening accountability will be assessed in the 2020 Report of the UN Secretary-General on progress since the 2018 TB UN high-level meeting, as well as in the WHO Global TB Report 2020.

The WHO TB Civil Society Task Force, National TB Programme Managers and other country officials, WHO staff at all levels, consultants working with WHO and The Global Fund, and staff of partner agencies, contributed content to, and/or provided feedback on, the MAF-TB Checklist during its development. Access the Checklist and 3 annexes.

An online form of the checklist will be available shortly here, along with additional information.

Translations of the Checklist and annexes, as soon as available in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish, will be posted at the above link as well. Kindly contact gtb programme@who.int if you have questions regarding the MAF-TB Checklist or to request versions in MS Word format if needed.

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April 10, 2020