Tag: Opportunity

  • 10 Proven Ways to Make Money With Your Own Blog

    10 Proven Ways to Make Money With Your Own Blog

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    A number of people own blogs but they do not know how to make money out of them. This is mainly because they do not realize how to create attention and attraction for prospective clients to fund their blogs. A well planned and managed blog can actually offer you freedom and control over your financial future. With an effective follow-up of promises of certain blogs and following ‘how-to’ manuals, you can actually smile all the way to the bank. On that note, in the following discussion, we are going to look at 10 proven ways to make money with your own blog.

    1. Google AdSense

    Google AdSense is a very significant tool that was designed with blog and website publishers in mind. Google AdSense works with Cost Per Click (CPC) and Earning Per Click (EPC). Blog publishers will basically get paid for clicks on Ads that appear on their sites. Anyone who has created, and maintains his blogs, can essentially take advantage of this fantastic opportunity. If you really know how to use the tool to your advantage, you can generate a great deal of revenue.

    2. Amazon Associates

    Amazon associates is majorly an affiliate system of a program primarily involving an agreement between the advertiser (you) and the retailer (Amazon). The advertiser markets the involved and he is paid by the retailer based on an agreement. More importantly, the amazon associate will get some commission when an interested buyer clicks on a given link online and makes a purchase. If you can manage to market as many products links as possible in your blog and sell some Amazon products then it’s possible that you can indeed make good money on your blog.

    3. eBooks

    eBooks are basically books that are in a soft copy format and can be downloaded on an internet connection. There are a number of ways through which eBooks can be created. You can employ writers, write them yourself or even use a public domain content. There are always numerous ready buyers to buy your eBooks, regardless of your area of concentration. With your blog, you can actually be selling your eBooks and get money or you can opt to sell the eBooks for other writers and they will pay at a commission.

    4. Sponsored Content

    Sponsored content is generally a native advertising method through which brand-sponsored videos and articles appear on social media platforms and sites of influence and also publishers. When you have sponsored content, there are usually a number of things you need to keep in mind as you market it. Firstly, do a perfect timing for your content, tie the content with your targets audience, use high-quality content such images to add value to the content and keep the tone relatable and authentic. You can always find brand-sponsored articles from big brands and advertise it on your blog and through that, you can indeed raise a significant amount of money.

    5. Contextual Ads

    This is essentially a form of targeted advertising that features adverts that appear on websites, such as the content displayed on mobile devices’ browsers. In a nutshell, in contextual ads, the system displays ads that are closely related to the content of your site depending on the keyword targeting. With contextual ads, you are normally paid per number of clicks. If you can get a significant number of contextual ads displaying on your blog then you can actually earn relatively good money depending on the number of clicks.

    6. Banner Ads

    This is an advertisement that appears on a webpage in the form of a column, bar or box. The major function of a banner ad is to promote a brand or, even more importantly get visitors from the host site to advertise on its advertiser’s website. The major function of a banner is to add traffic to your site and through that, you can seal your marketing deal. The more the traffic to your blog, the better. High traffic means high income.

    7. Online Courses

    When talking about an online course it’s essentially a method of selling what you know. It can be your skill, or any form of art, such as teaching people how to play guitar, how to bake bread or how to use a specific software. With your blog, you can sell your online course very easily. The course can be learned by many people across the globe increasing traffic to your website. Through this, you are able to make a lot of money on your blog.

    8. Promote Paid Webinar or Live Event

    Promotion of paid webinar basically refers to promoting a web conference, online meeting or a presentation that is held online. Live events are always advantageous to both the attendees and presenters. One consideration when it comes to promoting live events is the target audience. Through the promotion of webinar paid events, you generate traffic to your blog hence ending up being paid by your advertiser.

    9. Get Paid to Write Reviews

    A number of brands hire people to write reviews about them and their products. In addition to that, you always have to be honest in proving both the positive and negative reviews. Importantly, through other freelancing platforms, you can also get jobs of writing reviews for different brands. This can actually earn you good money if you are consistent in your work. All you need is to equip yourself with the proper tips.

    10. Consulting Service

    Consulting services basically refer to professional practices that offer expert advice within a particular field. There are many areas where you can specialize and offer advice in as much as your blog is concerned. Making money through consultancy services starts by first inventing your experience and skills. With your skill and experience, you can always earn money per project basis. Use your blog to advertise you’re services and you will earn good money through consultancy.

    Conclusion

    With the above-discussed ways, it’s undoubtedly obvious to see ways that will earn good money from your blog. All you need is to manage, maintain and, take advantage of various opportunities to generate money from your blog.

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    Source by Bob Tom

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  • How Transparent Do You Need To Be When Promoting Affiliate Products?

    How Transparent Do You Need To Be When Promoting Affiliate Products?

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    If you promote affiliate products, this means that you promote someone else’s products and they give you a commission for each sale. There are many rules and regulations you must follow in order to practice affiliate marketing properly. The truth is, the more transparent you are, the better.

    One thing to remember is that being transparent in business is beneficial to everyone. Letting people know that your link to that helpful product is an affiliate product promotes trust. Giving the link without telling may not seem like a problem, but some people do get upset about that and feel as if they were lied to.By law you are required to:

    Provide Contact Information

    You cannot hide behind your computer and not be who you really are in today’s online world, and you shouldn’t want to. You’re there to serve your audience and customers and they need to get in contact with you. Provide easy to find contact information in as many ways as you can afford.

    Provide On-Page Disclosure

    Every visitor that comes to your page should have the opportunity to read that you earn money via affiliate links and product promotion. That means that on any page you sell a product, you should include the disclosure. You can find a plugin to help with this, or use shortcode if you use WordPress.

    A Policy Page

    Create a whole page devoted to explaining all your policies so that any website visitors can look at that page to find out the nature of your business. You should address all partnerships, how things are fulfilled, communication, and so forth. For example, your customers should know that if they buy something from a link, they should seek customer service for that product with the place they purchased from – but that you still want to know if they have more problems.

    Other Useful Data

    The fact is, any data you can provide makes you more transparent. It also makes your audience’s experience feel safer and makes them more comfortable. For example, include testimonials, recommendations, short reports and so forth about the products you are recommending. Anything you think will help build trust and make you more transparent to your audience you should do.

    But, even if it was not a matter of law, transparency really builds that know, like, and trust factor that everyone wants so badly. When you tell people that you are making money promoting something, it does not take away from the fact that you’re selling something that solves their problem.

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    Source by Jon Allo

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  • 5 Top Video Marketing Tips You Cannot Afford To Ignore

    5 Top Video Marketing Tips You Cannot Afford To Ignore

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    Are you deploying online video for marketing purposes? If not, then you should know that visual clips trump all other forms of online communication. Let us explore 5 top tips that you need to follow in order to succeed in this ever-growing online marketing segment.

    1 – Visuals and Animated Clips Are Simply More Effective

    If you have heard that the use of video clips for SEO and promotional purposes is the latest trend, than you have heard correctly! Streaming and general animated content is the most effective marketing strategy when it comes to reaching your potential customers and creating an unforgettable impression.

    A question might arise as to how a video marketing strategy can really increase organisational visibility and draw in more customers. If you are already in business, you most likely have the initial tools right at your fingertips.

    2 – Video Is Far More Effective Than Pictures

    We have all heard the expression, “a picture speaks a thousand words”. So why use a photograph when we can now use video? Creating an online video clip for advertising purposes will always be a more dramatic marketing strategy when compared to articles and pictures.

    The likelihood is that your video will leave a memorable image in your potential customer’s mind. At the same time it also sets yourself apart from your competition. Research has shown that short clips that are created for marketing purposes are more likely to be retained in one’s memory. In addition, they are remembered far longer than descriptive writing or audio segments.

    3 – They Convey More Information Than Articles

    As opposed to merely reading about the benefits of your products or services, your visuals will be able to dramatically communicate this information. Customers will also be able to hear the enthusiasm in your commentary. To make this point, you probably have heard the following expression associated with this particular advertisement even though it was ten years ago.

    This refers to the phrase “set it and forget it”. It was used in a marketing clip created a good few years ago, but still relevant in modern-day marketing. The commentator continuously repeated the expression at various points during the presentation. This is an excellent example of how effective video marketing can be.

    4 – Video Engages Your Site Visitors

    As indicated, if you are already in business, no doubt you have an email contact list. Therefore, one of your daily functions revolves around emailing various individuals. With regards to your customers, you are most likely providing them with information pertaining to special deals, new products or services. What this means is that you now have the ability to send video emails as opposed to written ones.

    Traditional platforms such as Outlook Express do not have the ability to fully accommodate online video. However, there are other relatively new business and advertising platforms that can and offers a phenomenal capability to interact with your customers and prospects.

    5 – It Can Directly Increase Your Sales

    Using active online imagery as part of your overall marketing strategy dramatically enhances the possibility of increased sales and your general success. Your product brand and promotional communication is far more likely to remain in your potential customer’s mind’s eye through clips or video streaming.

    In addition, using visual imagery on your website and sending out video emails will prove to be the most direct and cost efficient method to reach your market when compared to other marketing strategies.

    Video marketing as a promotional platform is rapidly gaining momentum in the business arena and you now have the opportunity to implement your very own effective online campaign.

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    Source by Gerard Mohamed

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  • How To Find A Good MLM Opportunity!

    How To Find A Good MLM Opportunity!

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    How to find a good honest MLM Company after investing precious time and money with maxed out credit card debt, multiple failures, and not knowing what to do next is the reality many people experience.

    After working on-line for years, with more failures than successes; I learned how to create a financial freedom lifestyle by research, careful thought, planning and being comfortable with a business

    Jane wanted something to help supplement her retirement income. A friend introduced her to an online marketing opportunity that could accumulate wealth and Jane didn’t need to do anything but set it and forget it. The company did the work and she just received a weekly check.

    She signed up with no money for this business convinced that the first year she could earn ten thousand dollars a month passive income. But then her free sign-up came with an up sell including admin fee, a twenty-nine dollar monthly website fee to use the back office, and the company offered a marketing system for twenty-nine dollars a month.

    Two months later Jane quit, but immediately signed up with another company and continued joining business after business. Nothing worked. Jane learned the hard way after losing thousands of dollars that getting involved an MLM Company needed serious consideration.

    If you’re like Jane and are spending more money than you’re earning; chances are you’ve made a mistake. Are you working in a field that you’re interested in, enjoy and won’t stress you to the breaking point? Are you comfortable using the product and selling it? Are you willing to recruit other people and help train them? If you answered no to any of these questions; it’s time for a new start.

    A few tips to help you get starting in the right direction.

    1. Decide how much time you want or need to work a business.
    2. Look for a company that sells products that you would use.
    3. Read the product labels. If you’re comfortable then buy the product.
    4. Research the company, look at the Better Business Bureau Rating.
    5. Check to see if this company is in good standing with the Direct Selling Association.
    6. Learn about the Founders/Management of the company (and research those people.) Are they trustworthy?

    When you finally chose a company, read carefully the policies/rules/disclaimers and privacy statement.

    MLM marketing is a business that requires planning, setting goals, action, and time. Marketing strategies are critical and can become marketing tragedies; market with caution.

    Remember this; Everyone is not your customer. And everyone is not interested in joining an MLM Opportunity.

    I’ve only touched the surface about how to find business that you could be successful at working and also have fun doing it.

    People buy from people; not companies. Brand yourself not the company. That company may not always work out or stay in business. By branding yourself you can move on and keep your followers.

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    Source by Patricia A Gaines

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  • Maternal infections in health facilities

    Maternal infections in health facilities

    A clearer picture of the global impact 

    New research from the Global Maternal Sepsis Study (GLOSS), a major WHO/HRP initiative, shows that infection has a much larger impact on global maternal mortality and morbidity than previously thought.

    Logo of the Lancet Global HealthThe
    results from GLOSS, published in The Lancet Global Health, are the first to provide data on frequency of maternal infections and
    sepsis across the pregnancy and post-pregnancy period, in a large number of health facilities around the world. 

    Around 11 women per 1000 live births had an infection which resulted in or contributed to what is known as a severe maternal outcome – either they died or nearly died – during their hospitalization. 

    Urgent improvement is needed to manage this life-threatening risk faced by all pregnant and recently pregnant women, wherever they are in the world. 

    What is maternal sepsis and how does it lead to maternal death?

    Maternal sepsis is a life-threatening condition that arises when the body’s response to infection causes injury to its own tissues and organs during pregnancy, child-birth, post-abortion or the postpartum period.

    The latest global estimates place sepsis due to obstetric infections as the third most common cause of maternal mortality. However, this only includes infections as a direct result of pregnancy, such as endometritis or post-caesarean wound infections.

    Few
    previous studies include post-abortion infections. Neither do they address indirect infections such as respiratory and meningitis, which are aggravated by pregnancy but not directly caused by it.

    A better understanding of maternal infection

    GLOSS was a massive facility-based data collection effort led by WHO, accompanied by a ‘STOP SEPSIS!’ campaign to increase awareness among healthcare providers.

    The study gathered data on women who were admitted with suspected or confirmed infection during pregnancy or post-pregnancy over a one-week period in 2017. More than 2800 women participated in the study in 52 countries.

    GLOSS included healthcare facilities that care for women during pregnancy, childbirth or at the end of pregnancy, as well as facilities without maternity service but where women could be hospitalized during or after pregnancy, and data on infections
    which are not usually recorded as maternal sepsis, including post-abortion and indirect infections. 

    The result is a more complete understanding of the frequency and impact of maternal infections in health facilities. 

    GLOSS calls attention not only to the wider range of risks faced by pregnant women but also to the long period of time during which they are at risk. 

    Putting global numbers on maternal infection and sepsis

    Overall, around 70 pregnant or recently-pregnant women per 1000 live births were found to have a maternal infection needing hospital management. 

    Across the study, 11 women with either direct or indirect infection per 1000 live births developed a severe maternal outcome, but in low- and middle-income countries up to 15 women per 1000 births were affected.

    Infections were the underlying cause of most of the deaths recorded during the study, primarily post-abortion infection and indirect infections. Infections were also present in about a third of deaths attributed to other causes, such as postpartum
    haemorrhage.

    This suggests that the contribution of infection to global maternal mortality and morbidity may be larger than current reports of maternal sepsis mortality suggest.

    Preventing, identifying and treating maternal infection and sepsis

    Some of the most common maternal infections found in the study, such as urinary tract infections, post-caesarean and post-abortion infections, are largely preventable and treatable.

    GLOSS results suggest that current levels of monitoring and clinical care across health facilities are not enough to prevent, identify and treat levels of maternal infection effectively. 

    For instance, a complete set of vital signs was not reported for a third of the women in the study, on the day their infection was suspected or diagnosed. Delays in antimicrobial therapy were frequent.

    GLOSS also shows marked differences across countries, with the highest burden in low- and middle-income countries, compared with high-income countries.

    This may reflect the impact of broader health determinants in different country contexts. Challenges of overcrowding, limited access to water and sanitation and constraints to safe births by skilled birth attendants can reduce the ability of healthcare
    providers to manage the frequency and outcome of maternal infections.

    An opportunity to implement evidence-based practice

    GLOSS gives healthcare providers, policy-makers, and the public at large an opportunity: to mobilise around these data improve evidence-based practice, and save lives. 

    WHO has produced a number of resources which can support timely action to prevent, diagnose and treat maternal infection, as well as activities such as the upcoming SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands campaign
    on 5 May which celebrates the central role played by nurses and midwives in clean health care. 

    In addition, WHO will publish a global sepsis epidemiology report around the 73rd World Health Assembly (WHA) in May, as requested in the
    2017
    WHA Resolution on Improving the prevention, diagnosis and clinical managementof sepsis.

    Understanding why and how infection affects women is essential for equipping healthcare providers with life-saving knowledge and enabling health care systems to bring down global maternal mortality and morbidity.

    Related publications

    WHO recommendations for prevention and treatment of maternal peripartum infections

    WHO Clinical practice handbook for safe abortion

    Global guidelines on the prevention of surgical site infection

    WHO statement on maternal sepsis

    World Health Assembly resolution on Improving the prevention, diagnosis and clinical management of sepsis

    Health Topics

    Antimicrobial resistance

    Infection Prevention and Control

    Water Sanitation Hygiene

    Other links

    Global Maternal Sepsis Study

    SAVE LIVES: Clean Your Hands 5 May 2020

     

     

    Maternal infections in health facilities
    Read More
    https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/27-04-2020-maternal-infections-in-health-facilities

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  • Global leaders unite to ensure everyone everywhere can access new vaccines, tests and treatments for COVID-19

    Global leaders unite to ensure everyone everywhere can access new vaccines, tests and treatments for COVID-19

    Heads of state and global health leaders today made an unprecedented commitment to work together to accelerate the development and production of new vaccines, tests and treatments for COVID-19 and assure equitable access worldwide.

    The COVID-19 pandemic has already affected more than 2.4 million people, killing over 160,000. It is taking a huge toll on families, societies, health systems and economies around the world, and for as long as this virus threatens any country, the entire world is at risk. 

    There is an urgent need, therefore, while following existing measures to keep people physically distanced and to test and track all contacts of people who test positive, for innovative COVID-19 vaccines, diagnostics and treatments.

    “We will only halt COVID-19 through solidarity,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “Countries, health partners, manufacturers, and the private sector must act together and ensure that the fruits of science and research can benefit everybody.”

    Work has already started. Since January, WHO has been working with researchers from hundreds of institutions to develop and test vaccines, standardize assays and standardize regulatory approaches on innovative trial designs and define criteria to prioritize vaccine candidates.  The Organization has prequalified diagnostics that are being used all over the world, and more are in the pipeline. And it is coordinating a global trial to assess the safety and efficacy of four therapeutics against COVID-19.

    The challenge is to speed up and harmonize processes to ensure that once products are deemed safe and effective, they can be brought to the billions of people in the world who need them. Past experience, in the early days of HIV treatment, for example, and in the deployment of vaccines against the H1N1 outbreak in 2009, shows that even when tools are available, they have not been equally available to all.

    So today leaders came together at a virtual event, co-hosted by the World Health Organization, the President of France, the President of the European Commission, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The event was joined by the UN Secretary General, the AU Commission Chairperson, the G20 President, heads of state of France, South Africa, Germany, Vietnam, Costa Rica, Italy, Rwanda, Norway, Spain, Malaysia and the UK (represented by the First Secretary of State).

    Health leaders from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), GAVI-the Vaccine Alliance, the Global Fund, UNITAID, the Wellcome Trust, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (IFRC), the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers (IFPMA), the Developing Countries Vaccine Manufacturers’ Network (DCVMN), and the International Generic and Biosimilar Medicines Association (IGBA) committed to come together, guided by a common vision of a planet protected from human suffering and the devastating social and economic consequences of COVID-19, to launch this groundbreaking collaboration. They are joined by two Special Envoys:  Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Gavi Board Chair and Sir Andrew Witty, former CEO of GlaxoSmithKline.

    They pledged to work towards equitable global access based on an unprecedented level of partnership. They agreed to create a strong unified voice, to build on past experience and to be accountable to the world, to communities and to one another.

    “Our shared commitment is to ensure all people have access to all the tools to prevent, detect, treat and defeat COVID-19,” said Dr Tedros. “No country and no organization can do this alone. The Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator brings together the combined power of several organizations to work with speed and scale.”

    Health leaders called on the global community and political leaders to support this landmark collaboration and for donors to provide the necessary resources to accelerate achievement of its objectives, capitalizing on the opportunity provided by a forthcoming pledging initiative that starts on 4 May 2020. This initiative, spearheaded by the European Union, aims to mobilize the significant resources needed to accelerate the work towards protecting the world from COVID-19.

     

    Global leaders unite to ensure everyone everywhere can access new vaccines, tests and treatments for COVID-19
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    https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/24-04-2020-global-leaders-unite-to-ensure-everyone-everywhere-can-access-new-vaccines-tests-and-treatments-for-covid-19

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  • Commitment and call to action: Global collaboration to accelerate new COVID-19 health technologies

    Commitment and call to action: Global collaboration to accelerate new COVID-19 health technologies

    Our Vision and Mission

    Grounded in a vision of a planet protected from human suffering
    and the devastating social and economic consequences of
    COVID-19, we, an initial group of global health actors (BMGF,
    CEPI, Gavi, Global Fund, UNITAID, Wellcome Trust, WHO) and
    private sector partners and other stakeholders, are launching
    a landmark, global and time-limited collaboration to accelerate the
    development, production and equitable global access to new COVID-19 essential health technologies.

    We know that as long as anyone is at risk from this virus, the entire
    world is at risk – every single person on the planet needs to be
    protected from this disease.

    We agree that alongside evidence-based public health measures,
    innovative COVID-19 diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines are
    needed – in record time and at record scale and access – to save
    millions of lives and countless trillions of dollars, and to return
    the world to a sense of ‘normalcy’.

    We recognize the significant amount of critical work, investment
    and initiatives already ongoing around the world to expedite
    the development and deployment of innovative COVID-19 related
    products and interventions.

    We appreciate that while development and deployment of
    innovative products is essential, it will not be enough. We must
    simultaneously and urgently accelerate the strengthening of
    sustainable health systems and capacities to enable delivery of
    the new COVID-19 tools to those who need them and to mitigate
    the knock-on impact on other diseases.

    We remember lessons from the past, which have shown that even
    when effective tools are available to the world, too often some
    are protected, while others are not. This inequity is unacceptable –
    all tools to address COVID-19 must be available to all. In the fight
    against COVID-19, no one should be left behind.

    We understand we cannot do this alone, and that we need to
    work together in unprecedented and inclusive partnership with all
    stakeholders – political leaders, public and private sector partners,
    civil society, academia, and all other stakeholders across society
    – jointly leveraging our comparative strengths and respective
    voices to drive towards collective solutions, an accelerated path,
    and access for all. We are stronger, faster and more effective
    working together.

    Our Mission is not only accelerated development and availability
    of new COVID-19 tools – it is to accelerate equitable global access
    to safe, quality, effective, and affordable COVID-19 diagnostics,
    therapeutics and vaccines, and thus to ensure that in the fight
    against COVID-19, no one is left behind.

    Our Commitment

    1. We commit to the shared aim of equitable global
      access to innovative tools for COVID-19 for all.
    2. We commit to an unprecedented level of partnership
      – proactively engaging stakeholders, aligning and
      coordinating efforts, building on existing collaborations, collectively devising solutions, and grounding
      our partnership in transparency, and science.
    3. We commit to create a strong unified voice to
      maximize impact, recognizing this is not about
      singular decision-making authority, but rather
      collective problem-solving, interconnectedness and
      inclusivity, where all stakeholders can connect and
      benefit from the expertise, knowledge and activities
      of this shared action-oriented platform.
    4. We commit to build on past experiences towards
      achieving this objective, including ensuring that
      every activity we undertake is executed through the
      lens of equitable global access, and that the voices
      of the communities most affected are heard.
    5. We commit to be accountable to the world, to
      communities, and to one another. We are coming
      together in the spirit of solidarity, and in the service
      of humanity, to achieve our mission and vision.

    Our Call

    We ask the global community and political leaders to
    support this landmark collaboration, and for donors to
    provide the necessary resources to accelerate achievement
    of the objectives of this global collaboration, capitalizing
    on the opportunity provided by the rolling pledging
    campaign that will start on 4 May 2020.

    Commitment and call to action: Global collaboration to accelerate new COVID-19 health technologies
    Read More
    https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/24-04-2020-commitment-and-call-to-action-global-collaboration-to-accelerate-new-covid-19-health-technologies

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  • WHO urges countries to move quickly to save lives from malaria in sub-Saharan Africa

    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.

    WHO urges countries to move quickly to save lives from malaria in sub-Saharan Africa
    Read More
    https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/23-04-2020-who-urges-countries-to-move-quickly-to-save-lives-from-malaria-in-sub-saharan-africa

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  • What matters to women in the postnatal period?

    What matters to women in the postnatal period?

    The right to a positive maternity healthcare experience at every stage 

    Each pregnancy is unique and clinical needs can change across the pregnancy, childbirth and postnatal periods. One thing that never changes is the right to a positive experience at every stage. 

    Achieving the best possible physical, emotional, and psychological outcomes for every individual and newborn requires health systems to take a human rights-based approach: not only preventing maternal death and morbidity, but prioritising person-centred
    care and well-being.

    WHO is developing new guidelines for a positive experience of postnatal care, due to be published next year. To inform these guidelines and ensure that postnatal services can better meet the needs of women and their babies, WHO undertook a qualitative
    systematic review on what matters to women in the postnatal period.

    Joys and challenges in the postnatal period

    There is limited research about values and preferences in the postnatal period, defined by WHO as the first six weeks after childbirth. Studies have often focused on the results of specific postnatal interventions, rather than on the individuals who use
    them. 

    ‘What matters to women in the postnatal period: A meta-synthesis of qualitative studies,’ published in PLOS ONE, gives long-overdue respect to the authority of women’s own experiences. The authors review first-hand data from 15 countries
    and 36 studies published after the year 2000 relating to women’s beliefs, expectations and values at this significant time of life.  

    These studies affirm that a positive postnatal experience can result in joy, self-confidence and enhanced capacity to thrive as both a person and a parent.

    They are also vocal about the potential challenges of adjusting to a ‘new normal’ following childbirth, including changes in self-identity, relationships, and sexual behaviour.

    What is a positive postnatal experience? 

    A positive postnatal experience for a woman will be one that responds to her specific context and preferences. 

    It will provide the confidence, knowledge and skills women need in the weeks following childbirth, supporting them to adjust to any changes in their intimate relationships and build new family ones. Women will be better equipped to navigate physical and
    emotional challenges and to experience the dynamic achievement of personal growth. 

    This should be a shared responsibility, not a solitary one. Community has a critical role in enabling a positive postnatal experience, including partners, family and elders.

    It is crucial that healthcare providers meet each woman’s needs, as well as those of their babies. 

    Supporting choices and rights to improve postnatal health outcomes

    There are an estimated 303 000 maternal deaths annually, according to recent WHO figures. Most of these deaths occur postnatally. 

    The postnatal period is therefore a vital opportunity to improve both maternal and neonatal health and wellbeing: supporting healthy behaviors, providing life-skills education, facilitating breastfeeding, counselling women about family planning options,
    supporting good mental health, preventing and treating childbirth-related complications. 

    Health care systems that empower individuals by supporting their values, preferences and rights are fundamental to improving maternal and newborn health outcomes. 

    WHO’s guidance for positive maternity care

    WHO has recently released recommendations on antenatal care for a positive pregnancy experience, and on intrapartum care for a positive childbirth experience.

    These publications made important clinical updates, including an increase from four to eight recommended antenatal contacts, and a revision to the decision-making process for interventions to accelerate labour. 

    They also uphold every woman’s right to a positive maternity care experience: one where her pregnancy does not erase her competency, autonomy and right to participate in decision-making for her own care and the care of her newborn. 

    Women’s choices and rights to sexual and reproductive health care, including maternity care, should be respected at every stage of the continuum of maternal and newborn care. This is true across all income settings, as well as in humanitarian settings
    and during public health emergencies.

    When WHO’s postnatal guidelines are released next year, they will complete the maternity care series built around what matters to women.

    Rather than dividing care into three periods of antenatal, intrapartum and postnatal, these publications can be used to establish a model in which health systems support women, their baby and wider network physically, psychologically, socially and emotionally
    through this significant life event. 

    Other resources

     

    What matters to women in the postnatal period?
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    https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/22-04-2020-what-matters-to-women-in-the-postnatal-period

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  • COVID-19 And Nigeria’s Pathetic Leadership Deficit By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

    COVID-19 And Nigeria’s Pathetic Leadership Deficit By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye

    COVID-19 And Nigeria’s Pathetic Leadership Deficit By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye 1

    COVID-19 And Nigeria’s Pathetic Leadership Deficit By Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye 2


    There is no better warning about the growing confusion that seems to be gradually beclouding the federal government’s response to the coronavirus challenge than the belief it betrayed last week that, perhaps, all it needs to calm the fears and apprehensions of Nigerians about its ability to halt the spread of the virus is to reel out a catalogue of activities President Buhari was said to have undertaken so far concerning the pestilence, whether the people felt their impact or not. 

    Now, if your family is starving badly, do you solve the rumbling signs of biting hunger in their stomach with some wild tales of the efforts deployed by you so far to feed them, or just keep quiet, give them food, and they will see and feel for themselves that you have played your role responsively and effectively?  Or if you must talk, tell them something you have done whose benefits they can readily verify and identify with. 

    Indeed, some Nigerians are beginning to achieve the conviction that there must be something about being in government in this country that seems to diminish the reasoning ability of people once they get in there and deprives them of the capacity to realize when they have stopped making sense or even become downright annoying. This is very pathetic. 

    And so, last week, presidential spokesperson, Mr. Femi Adesina, issued a document entitled: “COVID-19: What President Buhari Has Done And Is Doing.” And, I suppose that with the release of that handout, the virus immediately received a deadly blow and vanished from the country! Aren’t we so blessed? Why then are Nigerians not on the streets celebrating the unprecedented feat? 

    A prominent item on Mr. Adesina’s list is the president’s March 29 broadcast. And what exactly did the broadcast achieve? The two things I can readily remember now is that Gen Buhari had announced the continuation of the school feeding programme for pupils who are all at home now due to the closure of schools as part of the efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Probably, nobody remembered to inform him and his speech writers that school children were on compulsory holidays, or are they going to send the food to them in their homes? Or, perhaps, somebody is trying to find a justification for the billions of naira we will be informed later was spent on the exercise?  

    Also, the president proclaimed the lockdown of Lagos and Ogun states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).  And when he was through, he returned to his hideout – where only a few privileged eyes and ears see and hear from him, and then come out to tell us what they think he has said or done.

    Now, what exactly was the lockdown meant to achieve?  Okay, as social interactions are reduced, the chances of spreading the virus decrease.  Yes, but what else?  Has anyone seen any evidence that there were any plans to use the stay-at-home period to access the people and step up medical tests to determine how many people have become infected with the virus and how they could be attended to? 

    The government that was boasting that it was “adequately prepared” to tackle the virus was later to prove when the virus eventually arrived that it was only making empty claims as usual.  A country of 200 million people has yet to demonstrate any capacity to test even a reasonable fraction of one percent of her population. And somebody is publishing a document to tell us what the president was supposed to have done or is doing. As if such boring tales will remove the cloud of gloom hovering over Nigeria? 

    Again, in a country where electric power is just an unaffordable luxury for many, how can a leader just lock down some states and return to his hideout to continue his “vacation” that was rudely interrupted by the loud, persistent and widespread demands that he should address his country even though some other presidents were doing daily briefings and leading the war against the virus from the front?  As the markets closed and movements became restricted, how are those who could afford to buy and stock food items at home preserve them without electric power?  

    What of the greater population which depend on daily earnings for their survival?  What is the government’s plan for them? Okay, we are hearing of palliatives that have been extended to this category of people and the billions of naira that have already been transferred to their accounts?  Now, who has encountered the happy recipients of the twenty thousand naira (N20, 000) said to have been given to each of them?  Are there really existing data showing the social and economic status of every Nigerian which is in the possession of the authorities?  So, all the “poor and vulnerable” Nigerians now have bank accounts whose details are known to the government?  So, why then are too many Nigerians very suspicious of these claims as shown in their social media comments? And why is such a rare display of kindness by this government not being celebrated? Or have the funds (if indeed any were shared) ended up in the hands of the same people who have more than enough to need them while those who are genuinely deprived remain terribly famished? 

    Already, the biting hunger out there is forcing a growing number of people to defy the no-movement decree and soon, the whole effort might be defeated, and the country will return to square one.  Information Minister, Mr. Lai Mohammed, is threatening that the lockdown may be extended if Nigerians fail to behave themselves. But what he should rather have done is to hasten to school himself to realize that there is always a price to pay when leaders leave the country they claim to be governing in great disarray only to suddenly wake up when there is an emergency to grope for fix-quick solutions. 

    A few days after the president’s broadcast (that is, Tuesday, March 31), Daily Independent carried a front page lead story about 26 Americans who came into the country through the Murtala Mohammed International Airport and headed to Calabar without being screened.  Now, who cleared their trip to the country and why were there no health officials available to screen them and ensure they were quarantined for 14 days before being allowed to fly to Calabar?  Is it because they are Americans or clients of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) or both?  Does that automatically exempt any of them from being a carrier of the virus which is presently ravaging their own country?  What kind of government claims to be fighting a virus with one hand and using the other hand to be undermining the efforts being deployed to contain it? 

    Okay, the Minister of Health, Dr. Osagie Ehanire, has just announced that an 18-man Chinese team of medical “experts” will soon arrive the country to “assist” Nigeria in the fight against the coronavirus.  Now, is it the federal government that asked China for help or was it China that volunteered their assistance?  Indeed many Nigerians are vehemently opposed to this gesture at this time.  Our own local medical experts have not shown any signs of being overburdened by the work, so what difference are these 18 Chinese doctors and nurses going to make?  Will they, like the 26 privileged Americans, also be given express entry into the country or will they be isolated for 14 days as should be the case, before they would be allowed to start rendering their “assistance”?  

    Do we really need this Chinese gift now or is it that the government lacks the liver to politely decline their offer of help, despite the widespread apprehension among the citizenry about their involvement (since many Nigerians, habour strong fears that the gesture might turn out a Greek gift)? Even the umbrella body of Nigerian doctors, the Nigerian Medical Association (NMA), has come out to strongly oppose the coming of the Chinese medical team.  Is it that our government is too intimidated to say NO to China’s offer probably because it has yoked itself so much with crushing debts due to its excessive borrowings from them – debts, whose positive effects on Nigerian lives many are yet to see? 

    I raise these points because, although, Nigeria has recorded one of the lowest deaths from coronavirus, it was the stubborn refusal of the government to close our borders when it became very necessary and urgent (and despite calls from well-meaning Nigerians) that led to the explosion in the number of confirmed cases that the country has recorded today.  In saner climes, the government should have profusely apologized for that terrible miscalculation that is costing the nation so much now. 

    But it now has another opportunity now to gratify the yearning of Nigerians and reject the Chinese offer even if it is well-meaning and the fears about it are misplaced. 

    Now, what lessons is the government taking away from the scourge of coronavirus? Will they see the need to equip our hospitals this time and upgrade at least few of them to world standard now that they have realized the folly of always waiting to use public funds to send themselves and their families abroad to treat even minor ailments?  For the first time in Nigeria, the naïve and largely misguided Nigerian leaders have found out that it is not always safe to seek solutions for health challenges outside the country and that there is afterall no place like home. This is hoping that the lesson will endure and be redemptive. 

    *Ugochukwu Ejinkeonye, is a Nigerian journalist and writer. (scruples2006@yahoo.com) 

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