A lot has happened in the past month. Without enough warning and preparation, the world is battling an invisible enemy – COVID-19. In less than three weeks, a virus that first appeared in Wuhan, China has spread to 150 countries and counting. On its path the virus unleashed death and wrecked economies on a scale that the world has never seen before. Projections already suggest that if extraordinary and decisive actions are not taken, America’s economy will contract by more than 15 percent in the second quarter, and the unemployment rate could hit 20 to 30 percent by the end of the pandemic. The impact of COVID-19 on the global economy is not any better. According to Bloomberg Economies, global GDP could fall to zero in a worst–case COVID-19 scenario.
Understandably, there is a deluge of news and chatter on social, broadcast and print media related to COVID-19. A lot of the information is not only useless but downright irresponsible, which is why in the weeks since the outbreak of the Coronavirus we have published on our website tips on how to deal with the COVID-19 situation. Once more, let me touch on those tips. The most important thing to do at a confusing time like this is stay informed and always check on updates. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) provides accurate and complete information regarding COVID-19 at (https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-nCoV/index.html). We also advised our readers to use this time at home as an opportunity to bond with loved ones. We shared links to our partners’ website on how to keep the kids engaged while they are home. Lastly, we asked our readers to be patient because a lot is unknown about the Coronavirus. But one lesson we must all learn from the outbreak of the Coronavirus is that the world is more connected than we think.
Our world at Nigerian Parents Magazine (NPM) has also continued to change. Many of you who are regular visitors to our website may have observed the new “Donate” button on the corner of our home page. It is our way of asking you to support our efforts to bring you the stories of Nigerians who are shaping America and changing the world. Since we launched the “Donate” button, many people have asked about the security of the transactions made with NPM. We assure you that your donations and transactions are done on a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) encryption that keeps your information completely secure
This month, April 2020, we will publish our advertising rates. We want your business to take advantage of our exponential growth and lock in advertising rates for one year. In other words, the rate will remain the same for you regardless of our growth. To put our growth rate into perspective, we exceeded 1500 unique clicks within the first week. This growth trend has continued. There are indications that our growth will translate into revenue growth for our sponsors. Our feature articles will continue to get bigger and better with each passing month.
Speaking about feature articles, this month we bring you Dr. Oluwaferanmi Okanlami, an extraordinary Nigerian. Dr. Okanlami is an Assistant Professor of family medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School. He also holds a joint appointment in the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation. When we asked you to suggest Nigerians who are doing incredible things, you responded. Dr. Okanlami was a popular demand from our readers who wanted to know more about this courageous and amazing young Nigerian. After learning more about him, it was obvious why you wanted to know more. We hope you enjoy and are inspired by his incredible story of triumph over adversity coming April 15th, 2020.