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Latest Metrics for Small Business Owners to Measure Their SEO Success
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Let's face it – SEO is not easy for any business. It becomes even more complicated when you've limited money, time and resources. According to the latest Cluth Survey "More than 36% of small businesses have already an SEO strategy and rest 23% are planning to develop one."

In order to maintain and develop a long-term SEO strategy, it is important for small business owners to understand the best way to measure their SEO success. As a small business owner if you are looking for ways if your SEO strategy is working, then here are the three SEO success metrics that can be helpful.
1. Traffic Retention
2. Backlink quality
3. Conversion rate
Let's have a look below how these three metrics can help you measuring SEO success.
- Traffic Retention for measuring quality search audiences
Every business wants to draw the attention of quality traffic to their website. Here Google Analytics play a crucial role. It is one of the effective measures to know what type of audience you want to target and what type of audience is visiting your website. There are two metrics in particular that can help small business owners to decide the quality of your search traffic. These are – Scroll depth and Bounce Rate.
- While Scroll depth determines how far your visitors scroll down specific web pages. If they scroll down the entire page, it means your audience is keen to read the topic.
- Bounce Rate refers to those searchers who visited a single page of your website but then left your site without browsing other pages.
- Backlink Quality defines the impact of Inbound Links
The quality of a backlink is measured by the total number of links from sites with high Domain Authority. To know the quality of the backlinks used in your site, you need to make sure that these are relevant and endorsed from new domains that can have more impact.

Although you can't control all links coming to your website, you can target the quality of those links via outreach to guest posting. Make sure your targets should include websites that offer domain authority, a new audience, and website relevancy.

3. Conversion Rate Offers Insight about SEO strategy Effectiveness

Conversion rates play a major role to measure small business performance metrics.

It enables you to know how well you are achieving SEO goals, along with the scope of success.

SEO success largely depends on generating many leads as possible. The conversion rate is the total number of website visitors who are becoming your potential clients. By tracking this, small businesses can easily measure the impact of their SEO on their revenue.

Wrapping the post

Every business needs context and time to measure and earn SEO success. By understanding the right metrics for measuring SEO success, you will surely lead the race and become a winner.

@page {margin: 2cm}
p {margin-bottom: 0.25cm; direction: ltr; color: # 00000a; line-height: 120%; text-align: left; orphans: 2; widows: 2}
p.western {"Liberation Serif", serif; font-size: 12pt; so-language: en-IN}
p.cjk {"Noto Sans CJK SC Regular"; font-size: 12pt; so-language: zh-CN}
p.ctl {"FreeSans"; font-size: 12pt; so-language: hi-IN}
a: link {so-language: zxx}

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Source by Triveni Thakur

Views: 0
November 11, 2022
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

Views: 0

July 29, 2022
Cure Stuttering Effectively With DAF And GILCU

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Stuttering as a speech disorder poses a lot of beliefs and theories concerning its origin and characteristics. One of them is the belief that stuttering is a result of the mismatch between a person's speech capacities and the demands the person receives from the environment. A person may constantly receive pressure around very fluent people. This may lead to the breakdown of his / her speech systems because the pressure he receives is just too much of what his speech system can accommodate. This makes concerned individuals look for ways on how to match these two factors and ways on how to cure stuttering.

There are a lot of myths and devices that promise instant cure for stuttering. Unfortunately, these are hoaxes and only provide temporary cure. But, with the help of techniques that are taught and implemented by certified speech pathologists, stutterers will be able to eliminate their moments of stuttering and communicate effectively. A lot of techniques are well-received by researchers in this field.

How To Cure Stuttering With GILCU?

Stutterers and concerned families have always been in the search for ways on how to cure stuttering. Speech pathologists incorporate different fluency techniques during therapies that promise to reduce and then completely eliminate the abnormal repetitions, prolongations and stoppages or blocks present in a stutterer's speech. With the help of the techniques, stutterers are also able to eliminate the physical concomitants or movements that they involuntarily do. Two of these techniques that aim to treat stuttering are Gradual Increase in Length and Utterance (GILCU) and Delayed Auditory Feedback (DAF).

How to cure stuttering with GILCU? GILCU, as what it stands for implies, involves the structured plan of the application of fluency techniques. The fluency techniques taught to patients are introduced and then applied in the patients' speech in a gradual manner. The patients will first apply the techniques with syllables then proceed with words, then to phrases and in turn to sentences. The patients, who seek ways of how to cure stuttering, will need to master first applying the techniques in the shortest utterances before proceeding to longer and more complex ones.

GILCU is incorporated in the Fluency Shaping treatment plan because it targets the over-all fluency of the person. This is also a convenient and effective technique because it doesn't bombard the stutterer with a lot of techniques at once. This gives the patient the chance to adapt and incorporate the techniques needed according to his / her own capacities. GILCU answers people over their concern on how to cure stuttering effectively.

How To Cure Stuttering With DAF?

DAF is another technique used by speech pathologists for people who are concerned on how to cure stuttering. Delayed Auditory Feedback, as the name implies, alters the auditory feedback system of the stutterer to lessen the dysfluencies. It is based on the belief that stutterers are not able to immediately implement corrections when what they wanted to say is different from what they have said. How to cure stuttering with DAF?

With DAF, a device is placed on the patient's ears. This device modifies the feedback system by delaying the sound heard by the stutterer by 50-75 milliseconds. This will make the stutterer prolong syllables and reduce the rate of utterances, thereby lessening the sudden dysfluencies created because of pressures for rapid speech. The delay caused by the DAF is decreased over the course of therapy to increase the pressure imposed on the stutterer. Its goal related to how to cure stuttering, is to practice the speaker to not hurry his / her speech and give him / her ample time to construct his ideas and produce them well.

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Source by Samuel Keith

Views: 0

July 26, 2022
Why Customer Concentration Impacts a Business Sale Transaction
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Few owners recognize the major impact that customer concentration has on the sale of their business. Customer concentration represents a significant obstacle and will affect the salability, valuation, and deal structure of a business-for-sale transaction. Not only will it create problems in qualifying buyers but it will impact the ability for any prospective purchaser to obtain third party financing to complete the acquisition. Determining if customer concentration is present in an enterprise is a critical element of the succession planning process.

Customer concentration is a situation when one customer represents a significant portion of revenues or when the business has a very small customer base. Based upon the expert one consults, the exact percentage for a concentration to exist varies. In most cases it is recognized when one customer represents more than 10% of sales or when the top five customers comprise greater than 25% of a company’s revenue. In either situation, a huge risk is created from the lack of diversification and steps to mitigate it should be taken years in advance of a planned business exit.

When evaluating a business sale it is important for an owner to recognize that their client base has a significant impact on the enterprise value of the company. A broad and diverse base of customers where there are a large number of clients contributing to the business’ revenue will achieve a higher transaction value as it reduces the risk that a sizable decrease in earnings will occur if any one customer is lost or a particular industry segment that the business serves encounters economic distress.

In addition to a lower sales price, businesses with customer concentration issues are more difficult to market for sale. For main street business transactions (those with adjusted earnings of less than $2mm) third party financing is used in the majority of cases. Businesses with high levels of customer concentration are very difficult to get financed. Lenders may provide only partial financing, offer sub-optimal terms, or decline the loan altogether. In situations where third party financing is not available, the pool of available buyers is significantly restricted and the terms of a deal could be heavily weighted on a contingent earn-out based on retaining the revenues derived by the largest customers. “Typically we want no customer concentration over a 10% level when considering financing an acquisition. Higher levels are possible with much more explanation and supporting documentation but remain a major concern” states Steve Mariani, President of Diamond Financial Services.

Lastly, customer concentration will have a direct impact on the deal structure for the business sale transaction. Buyers will strive to bridge the customer concentration risk through a variety of delayed ‘performance based’ financing methods. For example: Assume both parties agree on a transaction price of $900,000 based upon $300,000 of adjusted earnings (a 3x multiple). If the key account in question represents $75,000 of the $300,000 this would represent $225,000 of the transaction price. A buyer will strive to isolate the $225,000 component to ensure that revenue is maintained post sale. After a period of 12 months, if the customer and income are still in place the seller would receive the funds. If the identified client and corresponding revenue was lost during this period, a pricing adjustment would be made.

In situations where the buyer is unable to obtain transaction financing due to customer concentration issues, the seller might have to accept a “contingent earn-out” for the revenues derived from the largest customers, or worse, they may also have to finance a major portion of the “non-contingent purchase price” negotiated with buyers.

Contingent payouts could be structured in a variety of methods:

Earn-Out:

Earmark part of the purchase price with payments made over a period of time contingent upon the retention of specific customers or achieving specific revenue targets.

Escrow:

A percentage of the acquisition price will be held in an escrow account for a specified time.

Seller-Financing:

The seller would be responsible for financing a major portion of the purchase price through a seller note. The seller note could be structured with contingencies for revenues derived from the largest customers.

With any of these deal structuring techniques, the seller cannot be expected to guarantee the revenue in perpetuity and if the transaction price is based upon retaining one or more key customers, the seller may require more active involvement in maintaining the client relationship during the term of the agreement. Obviously, this brings an additional complexity to the transaction.

In most cases, buyers will look to discount the amount they are willing to pay for a business (with high customer concentration) unless they receive assurances that the risk is low. While the obvious strategy to reduce customer concentration risk is to diversify and increase the business customer base, there are a number of situations where customer concentration either does not pose a significant risk or could be mitigated.

Customer Contracts:

Having a contract in place will not eliminate all of the risk of losing a key customer, but it will provide the buyer with security that the revenue and profits will continue after a change in ownership takes place. When customer contracts are involved, the ability to assign or transfer will be important to understand. In many cases, a stock sale vs. asset sale is elected to preserve these contracts.

Barriers to Entry or Exit:

Businesses could have intellectual property, product expertise, or patents that create competitive advantages barring competition. Others are located in geographically remote areas where the supply benefits discourage customers from changing the relationship. Lastly, there could be significant capital requirements for manufacturing and tooling or agency approvals (pharmaceutical or government contracting industry) that creates a barrier to entry from potential competitors.

Providing a Variety of Products and/or Services:

Having a broad relationship with a key customer where the relationship is not based solely on one product, one location, and one individual decreases the risk that a singular change will fundamentally impact the future revenue stream and continuity of the account.

Economies of Scale or Synergies:

The acquisition may be pursued by a strategic buyer where they are bringing new products/services to the enterprise, a broader geographic distribution footprint, or economies of scale in production. Any of these elements would assist in reducing the concentration of revenue risk that an identified key client would represent to the future organization.

Summary

Businesses which have high levels of customer concentration are inherently risky and it is important for the owner to appreciate this concern from the perspective of a potential acquirer. Ultimately, the buyer seeks only to retain the customers which have contributed to the success of the business and are factored in the valuation and transaction price. From the position of a buyer a few logical questions and concerns would be:
1. How does the value of the company change if a customer representing 10% or more of revenue and/or profits is lost in the first year?
2. How easy would it be for the client representing the customer concentration concern to leave the business?
3. What unique situations exist within the business to preserve the customer relationship in the years ahead?
4. What are the logical steps and corresponding costs to mitigate the customer concentration risk?
5. How do I achieve a win-win transaction? Protecting me, the buyer, against the risk of a near term revenue loss while providing the seller with the proper remuneration for the fair market value of their business?
While the risk may not be able to be totally eliminated, there are a number of situations where customer concentration is more palatable and a proper explanation should be provided to the buyer at the earliest opportunity. Getting out in front of this potential challenge is critical to achieve a win-win deal. When good communication exists, and two fair and reasonable parties are at the table, there are a number of structuring options available, when necessary, to mitigate the risk and negotiate a fair and reasonable transaction price. Obviously, the best approach for a prospective business seller would be to develop and implement plans to reduce any customer concentration elements years in advance of a business exit. Eliminating this type of risk is just sound advice for any small business owner regardless of whether a sale is contemplated.

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Source by Michael Fekkes

Views: 0
July 25, 2022
CBD Oil for Dogs: A Miracle Medicine for All the Dogs Out There
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Having a sick pet at home can be very stressful for their owners, as one spends all their time searching for the medicines and treatments for them. There are several treatments and medicines available, but it is not necessary that they will be effective on all kinds of dogs. Also, these medicines usually have a lot of side effects too which can lead to reduced functionality in a dog.

But in recent times, there is one medicine that is doing rounds in the pet world and that is CBD. There are several benefits of CBD on a pet’s health, especially it helps in promoting homeostasis which is important for balancing temperature and gives a therapeutic effect.

What is CBD?

Before understanding all the benefits of the best CBD treats for dogs, let’s know what CBD is.
- CBD is cannabidiol and is extracted from the cannabis plant.
- The species of the cannabis plant that is used to extract CBD is hemp.
- There are several cannabinoids that can be extracted from the cannabis plant and this is one of them.
- Cannabidiol will not get pet high.
- Lower amounts of THC.
- It is non-psychoactive in nature.
- It has no known toxicity level, which means no overdose.
How does CBD help?

Every mammal has an endocannabinoid system which handles various processes like immunity, sleep cycle, memory and other functions of a body. Dogs also have the same endocannabinoid system which can interact with endocannabinoids which are released by the brain. But to supplement this supply of endocannabinoid from the brain, one can introduce it externally. This is why it is effective in dogs too, and one can use CBD oil for dogs without any side effects.

What are the benefits of the CBD?

There are several benefits of using CBD for dogs. Let’s list some of the very effective ones:
- Anti-inflammatory
Cbd helps in evoking immune responses and that is why it can reduce any kind of inflammation. It can help in reducing pain caused due to any kind of arthritis, bowel irritation etc.
- Pain-killer
Cbd helps in stopping the absorption of anandamide, which is the natural pain killer. With increased levels of anandamide in blood it helps in reducing the pain sensations.
- Anti-convulsant
It helps in restoring abnormal working of neurons. Abnormal working of the neurons usually leads to seizures and tremors, thus CBD helps in reducing seizures.
- Anti-anxiety
CBD has an anti-anxiety effect and reduces stress and various phobias. Cbd targets serotonin receptors which helps in increasing the serotonin level which curbs any kind of anxiety and fear in all kinds of organisms and in this case dogs.
- Anti-emetic
CBD is helpful in controlling vomiting and nausea in dogs. As it is very common to have nausea while undergoing certain treatments like chemotherapy, CBD can help in this situation and also curb loss appetite.
- Anti-cancer
Malicious tumors are common in pets and it means the dog needs to undergo chemotherapy, which leads to various side-effects. Now it is proven that CBD also has anti-cancerous properties that it can slow the growth of the tumor and even reduce its size in some cases.

All in all, one can say that CBD is a miracle medicine for pets all around. They show exemplary effectiveness among dogs in treating their problems which otherwise would take a lot of medicines and hours with a veterinary. So do not think before choosing the best CBD dog treats to help them in their health troubles.

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Source by Shalini M

Views: 0
July 25, 2022
Love Bombing: Are Some People Easy Targets For ‘Love Bombers’?

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If one was single and they were to meet someone who showed a lot of interest in them, they could find that they end up being drawn to them. And what might also play a part here is that one may be physically attracted to them.

Through being in this person’s presence, one could start to experience a lot of positive feelings. In a way, it could be as if this person is a breath of fresh air; with them being someone who has come into their life to make it better.

A Fast Build Up

After the first encounter, it might not be long until the other person is acting in a ways or talking about things that wouldn’t usually take place or be mentioned for quite some time. It will be clear that the other person doesn’t want to take their time and to allow everything to develop organically.

It will be like starting in first gear and going straight into the last gear; instead of starting in first and gradually moving through each gear. At this point, one could have put their thinking brain to one side and be completely caught up in what is going on.

For Example

So after one has had their first encounter with this person, their phone could constantly go off. This can be a time when this person will message and call them, telling them how much they like them, how special they are and the type of things that they want to do with them, for instance.

This person could also say that they should move in together and go into what their future will be like. Additionally, one may find that this person sends them gifts while they are at work and they could come across love notes and letters from them.

The Next Stage

After they have seen each other a few times or only known each other for a matter of weeks, the other person could ask them if they are now in a relationship. They could even go one step further than this by talking about how much they love them.

And if they do end up moving in together after such a short period of time, one could spend even less time with others. In fact, ones whole life could end up revolving around their partner – someone they have only just met.

On Top Of the World

At this point one could feel as though they are on cloud nine, with them basking in positive feelings and the loving behaviour of their partner. Nonetheless, it might not be long until their partner starts to change.

Now that this person has pulled one in, they could end up trying to control how they live their life. If one doesn’t do what they want, they might find that their partner leaves or that it is not possible to get hold of them.

Hot and Cold

This person will have done everything that they could to warm them up in the beginning and, how that they have them in the palm of their hands, so to speak, they will take advantage of them. Due to their fear of losing their partner and being rejected and/or abandoned, one can have the need to do whatever their partner wants them to do.

If this means no longer seeing their friends and family, putting their interests to one side and/or neglecting their own health, for instance, they will do it to try to regain their ‘love’. Ultimately, one will have become hooked on their partner’s attention or the dopamine that they trigger inside them, which is why they won’t feel good when their attention is no longer there.

Drawing the Line

One could then do what their partner wants and before long, they could pull away again. They might turn up in a few days or it could be a number of months before they reappear.

Clearly, having this person in their life is not doing them any good, and the sooner they cut their ties with them the better. There are a number of things that they can do to gradually get back on their feet and to regain their energy.

A Few Steps

Firstly, it will be a good idea for one to no longer speak to this person in person, over a screen, or over the phone. If this person won’t accept this, one may need to get in touch with the police.

Secondly, it will be good for them to get back in touch with family and friends, so that they can go over what took place and gain their support. Thirdly, taking time to do what they enjoy will make it easier for them to take their mind of this person, and, fourthly, they may need to reach out for the assistance of a therapist or a healer, for instance.

Stepping Back

It could be said that just about anyone could be love bombed, yet there are going to be things that will make one more susceptible to this type of behaviour. And if one has gone through this experience on more than one occasion, it is likely to show they need to take a deeper look into why this keeps taking place.

However, this is not about one blaming or shaming themselves for what has taken place; it is simply about them taking a step back and looking into what they might need to do to prevent this from taking place again. This is about awareness as if one can see that there is a reason why this keeps taking place; they can do something about it.

A Closer Look

If they were to do this, what might become clear is that they don’t feel good about themselves. Therefore, as soon as someone comes along and gives them so much positive feedback, they drink it all up.

Said another way, they are in a position where they desperately want someone to love them. Consciously or unconsciously, a love bomber realises this and ends up exploiting their weakness.

An Easy Target

If one did value themselves, they wouldn’t need as much from another person, and this would enable them to be more discerning when it comes to who they allow into their life. And as opposed to feeling good when another person comes on strong right at the start, they might end up feeling as though something isn’t right.

They might realise that as this person knows very little about them, it probably shows that they are trying to manipulate them. The love that they have for themselves will also allow them to have strong boundaries.

Additional Points

Furthermore, through valuing who they are, they would most likely have a number of close friends who they can share their life with. These people would then be there to give them feedback and to support them.

Another part of this is that one would also do things that they enjoy and this would strengthen them and fill their life with meaning. They would value themselves enough not to neglect themselves.

The Reason

If one was to find that they don’t value themselves, it could show that their early years were not very nurturing. This may have been a time in their life when they were abused and/or neglected.

Thanks to how they were treated, they would have come to believe that they were worthless and they may carry the pain of being rejected and abandoned. Being treated badly is then going to be something that feels comfortable at a deeper level.

Awareness

If one can relate to this, and they want to embrace their inherent value, they may need to reach out for external support. This is something that can be provided by the assistance of a therapist or a healer.

â€‹

There will be the negative beliefs that that they need to question and replace, and there will be the emotional wounds that they need to heal. The main thing is that one does what they need to do and doesn’t give up on themselves.

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Source by Oliver JR Cooper

Views: 0

July 23, 2022
WHO public consultation on draft Target Product Profiles for Tuberculosis Preventive Treatment
Tuberculosis (TB) is a major yet preventable global health problem, with an estimated 10 million new cases worldwide in 2018, resulting in more than 1.5 million deaths, making it the leading infectious disease cause of death worldwide. An estimated one fourth of the world’s population is infected with the TB bacterium, of whom 5–10% advance to active TB disease in their lifetime.

Prevention of TB is a crucial component of the World Health Organization (WHO) End TB Strategy that calls for 90% coverage of TB preventive treatment (TPT) among persons living with HIV (PLHIV) and household contacts of infectious TB cases by 2035. The UN high-level meeting on TB, in September 2018, further emphasized the need to strengthen implementation of TPT and called for 30 million people, including 4 million children under 5 years of age to receive TPT by 2022.

However, uptake and scale-up of TPT have been slow, mainly due to the limitations of both diagnostic assays and available regimens (long duration, cost, toxicity, adherence issues, and operational aspects), indicating the need for new short, safe, efficacious and easy-to-take regimens for the treatment of TB infection and prevention of TB disease. The WHO has developed draft Target Product Profiles (TPPs) for TPT to align developers’ performance and operational targets for new TPT regimens with the needs of end-users.

The draft TPPs are now available online for comment.

WHO invites comments or feedback from all stakeholders by 27 April 2020 via this link:
- Access the form here
Based on the comments received on this draft, WHO will prepare the final non-draft TPP (version 1.0), which will be posted on WHO’s website and uploaded into the (WHO) Product Profile Directory by October 2020.

Read More
https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/31-03-2020-who-public-consultation-on-draft-target-product-profiles-for-tuberculosis-preventive-treatment

Views: 0
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
Assuaging Plight Of The Poor In This Perilous Time By Okechukwu Nwanguma

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Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre has been monitoring and receiving information on public compliance with the Federal Government ordered lockdown in Abuja, Lagos and Ogun states, which contain measures to contain the ravaging Covid-19 pandemic.

Our monitoring of the compliance with the lockdown and stay-at-home orders in Lagos, Abuja and few other states indicate that most people are finding it difficult to effectively comply for various reasons.

First, there are those, who still don’t believe that Covid-19 is a real life-threatening pandemic and that precautionary measures such as social distancing, personal hygiene and other outlined measures can prevent its infection and spread.

In fact some have been made to believe that the lockdown is a deception by government to achieve other ulterior motives. Those, who promote this narrative are mainly the apocalyptic Pentecostal ‘Men of God’, who push arguments linking Covid-19 to 5G mobile technology, which they argue is a part of the biblically ordained designs of the Anti-Christ.

Second, some Nigerians are simply lawless or lack discipline, just like when passengers are asked to switch off their phones prior to flight take off and you still find some people, seemingly ladies and gentlemen, fiddling with their phones.

To illustrate, a relative of mine called me yesterday to complain that he was arrested by the police somewhere in Lagos when he drove out to buy pap for his baby. I asked him whether he knew about the lockdown order and whether there was nowhere around his neighbourhood he could walk down to buy the pap. He said ‘but other vehicles are on the road’. I told him that he had broken the law as much as those other people. Everybody may not be arrested at once.

He wanted me to talk to the police officers, who arrested him and ordered him to drive to their station. I asked him what he wanted me to tell them.

Third, and most significantly, there are yet others, who are forced out of their homes by want and hunger. They can’t stand the site of their tender children crying for hunger.

As I said elsewhere, majority of the population fall within the poor and vulnerable category. Usually, many feed themselves and their dependents on their daily earnings. They live from hand to mouth.

Under the prevailing difficult and uncertain situation, many families and individuals are already suffering and starving, just one week into the lockdown, with one more week left to go, with the probability of an extension.

The Federal Government’s Social Intervention Policy, the so-called conditional cash transfer is not yet addressing mass poverty, deprivation and hunger. The billions, which government announced that it has released and made available for conditional cash transfer to the poor and vulnerable in communities are not reaching the targets. There are still cries of woe and anguish in most communities.

We have seen videos of caricature of the ‘social intervention’, of food items shared to some communities. In one video, we saw a street in Lagos of over 30 families, who said they were given two loaves of bread and few cups of rice and garri and few condiments (tomato paste sachets) to share. And we see members of the community lamenting and asking how a whole street of over 30 families could be given such quantity of food items not enough to serve one family for two days to share!

Corruption has become our national culture. A seemingly intractable challenge to our progress and development. Most of our politicians and public office holders are unscrupulously avaricious.

Given our past experiences where public funds meant for and released to assuage the sufferings of poor and vulnerable communities were either unconscionably used to ‘cut grasses’ or inexplicably got ‘swallowed by snakes’, we call for transparent and community-based approaches to the management and disbursement of social intervention funds.

Considering complaints by many local communities about not benefiting from the released billions of naira announced and meant to alleviate poverty and hardship, especially during this difficult and uncertain period, we call for a transparent and effective investigation of the management of the funds so far allocated. Efforts must be put in place to ensure that the funds are not diverted as usual.

Independent community committees must receive these funds and be charged with identifying those in their midst, who qualify to benefit.

The management of the funds should be monitored by a multi-stakeholder committee including government and community representatives as well as credible media and civil society representatives.

Government must put effective measures in place to check corrupt public officials, who want to steal or divert funds meant to relieve the sufferings of the poor and vulnerable people in this perilous times.

This is the only way to help the people comply with the law and stay at home for now!

Finally, since government has been announcing huge numbers of beneficiaries of cash transfer program running into millions and claiming to have paid billions, can the government make the system transparent by publishing the names and addresses of the beneficiaries on an electronic portal so that Nigerians can do the verification?

Okechukwu Nwanguma is the Executive Director of Rule of Law and Accountability Advocacy Centre

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April 9, 2020
Digital technology for COVID-19 response
WHO has acquired overwhelming pro-bono help from technology firms to struggle the COVID-19 pandemic. On 2 April, 30 of the world’s main digital technology specialists gathered in a digital roundtable to assist advance WHO’s collaborative response to COVID-19.

This pandemic has triggered an unprecedented demand for digital well being technology options and has revealed profitable options corresponding to for inhabitants screening, monitoring the an infection, prioritizing the use and allocation of sources, and designing focused responses.

“We want your dedication, so we will flip these concepts into actuality and work with public well being companies and frontline well being employees to place this pandemic to relaxation,” stated WHO Director-General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in his welcoming comment. “We can solely sort out this world menace – and get our financial system again on observe – by working collectively.”

The assembly was co-facilitated by Steve Davis and Precious Malebona Matsoso, co-chairs of WHO Digital Health Technical Advisory Group.

The targets of the assembly have been as follows:
1. Introduce WHO’s Digital Health & Innovation efforts for COVID-19 and search help from technology firms within the design and execution of these initiatives.
2. Build on WHO’s COVID-19 efforts by way of new collaboration and data sharing, to ship focused options by way of a coordinated effort to help international locations dealing with phases of this epidemic in numerous methods and totally different instances.
3. Share and discover identified gaps and areas that lack focus. Topics embody user-focused options, combating misinformation, provide chain administration, functions supporting well being employees, neighborhood engagement platforms, help data administration capacities, analysis and improvement help, restoration planning work.
4. Secure volunteer and pro-bono sources from world tech firms to design and execute response initiatives with WHO.
Bernardo Mariano Junior, director of WHO’s Department of Digital Health and Innovation, known as for unity in response efforts, “The world must be properly ready and united within the spirit of shared accountability, to digitally detect, shield, reply, and put together the restoration for COVID 19. No single entity or single nation initiative will likely be enough. We want everybody.”

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April 4, 2020