With a mission to bring health equity to all people worldwide, the World Health Organization (WHO) provides a variety of free online courses on today’s most pressing global health issues. They’ve made specialized health topic education easily accessible for learners all over the world who want to expand their knowledge, skill set, and career opportunities thanks to their user-friendly OpenWHO eLearning platform.
WHO courses, which range from fundamental concepts to cutting-edge content on emerging health threats such as pandemics and antimicrobial resistance, help to strengthen public health infrastructure by empowering intermediaries and frontline health workers. Certification options also allow formal credentials to be earned for free by completing assessments.
As a leading authority in global public health, WHO education has high credibility and relevance for developing professional skills and driving community impact. Let’s take a look at the platform’s free courses, credentials available in 2023, and how healthcare practitioners and the general public can benefit.
Overview of the OpenWHO Platform and Course Topics
OpenWHO, WHO’s web-based knowledge-transfer portal, was launched in 2017 with the goal of advancing global health security and sharing critical guidance on health emergencies more quickly. The interface is designed to be simple and optimized for low bandwidths.
Aside from health workers in partner agencies around the world who use the portal to share real-time information about outbreaks, Open WHO also serves informal learners. It serves as a public e-learning hub for anyone interested in WHO training materials and improving health security capabilities by providing free online coursework and resources.
Current course topics available include:
- Pandemic and Epidemic Diseases
- Immunizations and Vaccines
- Mental Health and Substance Abuse
- Environmental Health and Climate Change.
- Noncommunicable diseases.
- Patient Safety
- Biology & Genetics
- Leadership & Communication
Digital Health and Innovation Along with future-focused topics like genomics, WHO ensures that foundational content on core health areas such as infectious disease control, emergency response, vaccine efficacy, proper nutrition, and more is better on a regular basis.
Available Course Languages and Accessibility
Open WHO courses are translated and made available in all six United Nations languages, including Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian, and Spanish, in accordance with the organization’s health equity values. Furthermore, the portal interface and course materials meet Web Accessibility standards for inclusiveness of vision, hearing, motor, and neurological disabilities.
Optional Free Certification and Badging for Learners
While the OpenWHO training platform already contributes to the Continuing Professional Development goals of enrolled partner agency staff and health / government workers in member states, general learners can demonstrate new expertise by pursuing certification.
Assessments that provide official recognition include:
- Course quizzes are used to assess comprehension of content modules. Passing all module quizzes is required for longer courses before the final assessment.
- Course assessments are long-form evaluations that comprehensively test the learner’s new knowledge and skills. Used to certify.
- Badges / Certificates – Awarded for successfully passing all assessments and formally recognizing new expertise in a health subject. Shareable as digital badges or official certificates.
These credentials are especially valuable for health professionals looking to advance their careers and aspiring practitioners pursuing positions in global public health or government advisory. However, promoting health literacy and best practices awareness throughout communities is also a key goal; certifications recognize all learners who are committed to ensuring wellness for all.
Highlights on Popular 2023 Courses and Certifications
While course catalogs cover hundreds of topics reflecting WHO’s various initiatives, current trends indicate a strong learner interest in pandemic preparedness, therapy innovations, and cutting-edge techniques for safety and emergency response in 2023.
Some popular courses that provide certification include:
Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness
Topics covered include COVID-19 vaccine safety surveillance and pharmacovigilance, psychological first aid, patient blood management, and pulse oximetry training using mobile devices.
Helping Babies Breathe
The Antimicrobial Resistance course, for example, provides new insights into prevention strategies as well as a global action plan for managing drug-resistant infections, which has been identified as one of the top ten global public health threats over the next decade.
Meanwhile, COVID-19 remains a top priority for learners, with high demand for trainings on vaccine science innovations, mental health, containment procedures, and mobile healthcare delivery. Goal-aligned organizations can also provide tailored courses to entire workforces based on strategic capability targets.
Benefits for Individuals and Communities
While expanding your own professional qualifications or career prospects through free courses and certifications remains a major draw for many OpenWHO learners, the benefits of improving global health literacy and cross-collaboration go far beyond the individual.
Every skill-based training completed by medical field workers, researchers, community advocates, and engaged citizens provides compounding benefits for local populations through:
- Faster emergency response times.
- Advanced isolation, testing, and therapeutic procedures
- More resilient medical infrastructure and self-reliance.
- Cross-border collaboration to accelerate breakthroughs.
- Health promotion and disease prevention awareness.
As emerging pathogens pose threats around the world, increasing access to critical prevention education, safety protocols, and crisis mitigation strategies in communities is critical for long-term wellness. OpenWHO enables broader societal benefits by providing free specialized training to intermediaries at all levels.
FAQs
What is OpenWHO?
OpenWHO is the World Health Organization’s (WHO) interactive knowledge transfer platform, which provides free online courses on a variety of global health topics. It aims to improve health security and safety by making WHO content more accessible to a wider audience.
What types of courses does OpenWHO offer?
OpenWHO provides courses, videos, webcasts, and other learning resources on pandemic preparedness, epidemiology, immunization, outbreak response, leadership and operations, patient safety, and more. People discuss hundreds of topics.
Does OpenWHO offer course certificates?
Yes, OpenWHO allows students to take assessments and obtain certificates for completing courses. These can validate the new knowledge gained in WHO subject areas ranging from infection and disease control to mental health interventions.
What are the certification options?
Passing all module quizzes and final course assessments qualifies learners for course completion certificates or badges. You can use these certifications to formally recognize specialized skills and enhance your professional profile.
Who can enrol in OpenWHO courses?
The free online courses are open to anyone who wants to improve their global health knowledge, including medical professionals, health workers, students, teachers, government agency employees, and the general public.
Which languages are available?
OpenWHO offers courses and materials in all six official UN languages: English, Spanish, French, Arabic, Russian, and Chinese. The portal interface also meets accessibility requirements.
How will the courses benefit me?
The courses allow you to supplement your knowledge of health, science, and medicine in order to advance your career or promote community health. They develop skills to deal with global crises such as pandemics more effectively using WHO best practices.
Where can I access OpenWHO courses?
OpenWHO courses and resources are available on the WHO’s website and mobile apps. Enroll by creating a free account to track your progress and review materials or certificates you’ve earned on health-related topics.
Conclusion
As populations become more mobile in modern times, and contagions spread easily across borders, protecting against global health threats becomes a universal priority that requires coordinated action. As the leading international authority coordinating cross-country efforts in outbreak preparedness and management, WHO is responsible for rapidly equipping health stakeholders around the world with the most up-to-date risk-reduction strategies and containment measures.
Their free online OpenWHO courses on today’s most pressing and emerging public health challenges are extremely valuable for health workers building medical infrastructure in local communities and ordinary citizens looking to protect community wellness. Certification options only increase the potential for professional and personal development by formally recognizing specialized expertise gained through WHO’s high-quality global health education content.
