Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) training: Online training
Free COVID-19 online courses on OpenWHO
COVID-19 vaccination training for health workers
All health workers involved in implementation of COVID-19 vaccination need to have adequate knowledge and skills in order to ensure safe and efficient COVID-19 vaccine administration. The COVID-19 vaccination training for health workers package is developed for frontline health workers in countries. The package consists of 6 modules, which include video lectures, quizzes, job aids, interactive exercises and downloadable presentations with the available information.
Orientation to national deployment and vaccination planning for COVID-19 vaccines
The Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator’s Country Readiness and Delivery workstream has released guidance on developing a national deployment and vaccination plan (NDVP) for COVID-19 vaccines. This course is intended to help national and sub-national focal points in countries develop the NDVP and prepare for COVID-19 vaccine introduction.
Guidance on mask use in the context of COVID-19
This course provides an overview of the guidance on masks as outlined in “Mask use in the context of COVID-19”.
This training is intended for health workers, decision-makers, and the public and covers correct mask use for both healthcare and community settings.
COVID-19 and work: Staying healthy and safe at work during the COVID-19 pandemic
Workplaces have played an important role in both the spread and mitigation of the COVID-19 pandemic throughout the world. Being provided a healthy and safe workplace throughout the pandemic and beyond is a human right. Maintaining open, safe and healthy workplaces is of vital importance to protecting livelihoods, wellbeing and public health. Critical public health measures can help protect workers, their clients, and the community at large. Through an introduction and 5 modules, this course aims to guide workers and their representatives, business leaders, employers, managers and occupational health and safety professionals on how to protect themselves and their workplace during the COVID-19 pandemic. Modules 4 & 5 of this course were produced in collaboration with the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH).
COVID-19 infodemic management: risk communication and community engagement challenges
This infodemic management course applies evidence-based guidance to the COVID-19 pandemic. It covers key risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) principles and illustrates how they can be operationalized in the context of an extended outbreak that affects different populations with varying risk levels. Illustrations from WHO headquarters, regions, and Ministries of Health provide concrete examples of messaging and other communication interventions developed during COVID-19.
Management and Facilitation of a Country COVID-19 Intra-Action Review (IAR)
As the COVID-19 pandemic becomes increasingly protracted, WHO has developed a Guidance for Conducting a Country COVID-19 Intra-Action Review (IAR) and ten accompanying tools for countries to conduct periodic reviews of their response during this public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). A Country COVID-19 IAR is a country-led facilitated process that allows stakeholders of the ongoing COVID-19 response to review the functional capacities of public health and emergency response systems at the national or subnational levels to identify best practices, gaps and lessons learned, and propose corrective measures and actions for immediate remediation or sustained improvement of the COVID-19 outbreak response. The course consists of four modules, quizzes after each module and a final assessment.
Introduction to emerging respiratory viruses, including novel coronavirus
Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that are known to cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
A novel coronavirus (COVID-19) was identified in 2019 in Wuhan, China. This is a new coronavirus that has not been previously identified in humans.
This course provides a general introduction to COVID-19 and emerging respiratory viruses and is intended for public health professionals, incident managers and personnel working for the United Nations, international organizations and NGOs.
Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) for novel coronavirus (COVID-19)
This course provides information on what facilities should be doing to be prepared to respond to a case of an emerging respiratory virus such as the novel coronavirus, how to identify a case once it occurs, and how to properly implement IPC measures to ensure there is no further transmission to HCW or to other patients and others in the healthcare facility.
This training is intended for healthcare workers and public health professionals, as it is focused on infection prevention and control.
Health and safety briefing for respiratory diseases – ePROTECT
This course provides a general introduction to Acute Respiratory Infections (ARIs) and basic hygiene measures to protect against infection. By the end of the course, you should be able to describe basic information about ARIs including what they are, how they are transmitted, how to assess the risk of infection and list basic hygiene measures to protect against infection.
COVID-19: Operational Planning Guidelines and COVID-19 Partners Platform to support country preparedness and response
In order to assist UN country teams in scaling up country preparedness and response to COVID-19, WHO has developed these learning modules as a companion to the Operational Planning Guidelines to Support Country Preparedness and Response.
The training is intended:
- For UN country teams (UNCTs)
- For other relevant stakeholders, including partners, donors and civil society
- To support national readiness and preparedness for COVID-19
- To help countries increase their capacity to respond to COVID-19
- To increase international coordination for response and preparedness
- To streamline the process of coordinating resources and assessing country preparedness level
This learning package consists of 3 modules with videos and downloadable presentations.
Course 1: Clinical management of patients with COVID-19 - General considerations
The Clinical Management of Patients with COVID-19 course series is developed for healthcare workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The course provides crucial knowledge necessary to provide safe, effective quality patient care. Presentations address all aspects of clinical management, including facility preparation and surge planning; health worker infection prevention and control; interfacility transfer; clinical management of mild, moderate, and severely ill patients with COVID-19; special considerations for geriatric, pregnant, and pediatric patients with COVID-19; rehabilitation; and ethics and palliative care.
The course series consists of 6 courses, which include video lectures and downloadable presentations that have been updated with the latest guidance and evidence. Each module contains 5-8 lectures, and each lecture includes a quiz to evaluate knowledge acquisition.
Course 6: Clinical management of patients with COVID-19 - Rehabilitation of patients with COVID-19
The sixth course of the Clinical Management of Patients with COVID-19 course series is devoted to the rehabilitation of patients with COVID-19. The seven course modules address the manifold and varied rehabilitation needs of patients recovering from COVID-19, including patients with cognitive impairment, physical deconditioning and weakness, respiratory impairment, swallow impairment, communication impairment and challenges in completing Activities of Daily Living (ADLs). Techniques for rehabilitation also are addressed.
Neglected tropical diseases in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic: impact and guidance
This course is intended for decision-makers and programme managers who want to learn more about neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Its 5 modules introduce NTDs, outline the impact of COVID-19 on NTD programmes and WHO’s response to mitigate its consequences, and finally present WHO’s recommendations on maintenance of essential health services for NTDs as well as guidance on adaptation and safe resumption of community-based NTD activities during the pandemic.
Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) Treatment Facility Design
Screening areas, treatment centres and community facilities are part of the strategic priorities for Severe Acute Respiratory Infection (SARI) outbreak preparedness, readiness and response. The SARI Facilities training package has been developed to meet the operational needs emerging with the COVID-19 pandemic. It provides a thorough understanding of the principles driving the design process of COVID-19 screening areas for health care facilities, community facilities and SARI treatment centres, including how to repurpose an existing building into a SARI treatment centre.
WHO COVID-19 Mass Gatherings Risk Assessment Training
The purpose of this course is to provide guidance for health authorities and organizers of mass gatherings in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the specific aim of containing risks associated with transmission of this infection.
Occupational health and safety for health workers in the context of COVID-19
All health workers require knowledge and skills to protect themselves and others from the occupational they encounter, so that they can work safely and effectively. This course consists of five sections in response to these needs:
- Introduction
- Module 1: Infectious risks to health and safety
- Module 2: Physical risks to health and safety
- Module 3: Psychosocial risks to health and safety
- Module 4: Basic occupational health and safety in health services.
Long-term care facilities in the context of COVID-19
The COVID-19 pandemic affects older people disproportionately, especially those living in long-term care facilities (LTCF) with significant impact on mortality and morbidity. Concerted action is needed to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 by enhancing infection prevention and control (IPC) measures within LTCF. The COVID-19 IPC course for LTCF consists of 4 training modules to be used in conjunction with the LTCF communication toolkit and preparedness checklist. This package is tailored for LTCF and based on WHO's in-depth technical guidance on IPC.
Introduction to Go.Data – Field data collection, chains of transmission and contact follow-up
Go.Data is a field data collection platform focusing on case data (including lab, hospitalization and other variables though case investigation form) and contact data (including contact follow-up). This briefing package provides an orientation to the purpose, benefits and utilization of Go.Data, consisting of 7 modules with a narrated walkthrough of the key features of the Go.Data web-based platform and mobile application.
COVID-19: How to put on and remove personal protective equipment
This is a guide for healthcare workers involved in patient care activities in a healthcare setting. It aims to show the type of personal protective equipment or PPE needed to correctly protect oneself. Based on the current available evidence, the WHO recommended PPE for the care of COVID patients are CONTACT and DROPLET precautions, with the exception of aerosol producing procedures, which require CONTACT and AIRBORNE (hence, a respirator mask such as N95, FFP2, FFP3). Keeping in mind, PPE is part of a larger infection prevention and control bundle of measures and should be implemented as part of a multimodal strategy of management of COVID-19 patients. Only clinical staff who are trained and competent in the use of PPE should be allowed to enter the patient’s room.
Standard precautions: Hand hygiene
Most health care-associated infections are preventable through good hand hygiene – cleaning hands at the right times and in the right way. The WHO Guidelines on hand hygiene in health care support hand hygiene promotion and improvement in health care facilities worldwide and are complemented by the WHO multimodal hand hygiene improvement strategy, the guide to implementation, and implementation toolkit, which contain many ready-to-use practical tools. This module has been prepared to help summarize the WHO guidelines on hand hygiene, associated tools and ideas for effective implementation.
Standard precautions: Waste management
According to WHO, about 85% of the total amount of waste generated by health care activities is general, non-hazardous waste. The remaining 15% is considered hazardous material that could be infectious, toxic or radioactive. Hazardous waste that is not managed properly presents a risk to hospital patients, health care personnel and the general public.
Decontamination and sterilization of medical devices
The decontamination of instruments and medical devices plays a very important role in the prevention of health care-associated infections (HAIs). Indeed, improper decontamination of surgical instruments, endoscopic devices, respiratory care devices and reusable haemodialysis devices still occurs in many settings, leading to HAIs. This course is based on the WHO manual on decontamination and reprocessing of medical devices for health care facilities, as well as in collaboration with the US CDC.
Standard precautions: Environmental cleaning and disinfection
The health care environment contains a diverse population of microorganisms and can be a reservoir for potential pathogens. If environmental cleaning is not performed correctly, then environmental contamination can contribute to the spread of multidrug-resistant organisms and health care-associated infections. Collaboration between infection prevention and control (IPC) and environmental services (EVS) staff limits the role of the health care environment in disease transmission.
Standard precautions: Injection safety and needle-stick injury management
Following safe injection practices is key to preventing the spread of infection during health care delivery. Unsafe injection practices include: unnecessary injections, reusing needles and syringes, using a single dose medication vial for multiple patients, giving an injection in an environment that is not clean and hygienic, and risking injury due to incorrect sharps disposal.
The associated dangers such as needle-stick injuries put health workers at risk of infection and, in many cases, these injuries are underreported. It is important to make sure health care workers in your facility are trained in sharps injury prevention, as accidents can easily occur if safety practices are not routinely and rigorously followed.
Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) core components and multimodal strategies
Using WHO’s Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) core components as a roadmap, you will see how effective IPC programmes can prevent harm from health care-associated infections (HAI) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) at the point of care. This course will introduce you to the multimodal strategy for IPC implementation, and define how this strategy works to create systemic and cultural changes that improve IPC practices. This foundational knowledge will guide you in effective development and implementation of IPC programmes and IPC education in your facility.
Basic microbiology
Microbes are living organisms that can be beneficial, neutral or harmful to humans. A basic understanding of microbiology will allow you to recognize how your role as an Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) person can help break the cycle of transmission, prevent health care-associated infections (HAI) and reduce antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
Leadership and programme management in Infection Prevention and Control (IPC)
Leadership is an important part of a successful Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) programme. These skills can affect positive change in an IPC team, other leaders and health care staff, and lead to sustainable IPC programmes. In order to develop a sustainable programme, IPC leaders must have good project management and risk assessment skills and understanding of implementation strategies. We will also learn the importance of developing adequate education and training for health care workers in your facility.
Clinical Care Severe Acute Respiratory Infection
This course includes content on clinical management of patients with a severe acute respiratory infection.
It is intended for clinicians who are working in intensive care units (ICUs) in low and middle-income countries and managing adult and pediatric patients with severe forms of acute respiratory infection (SARI), including severe pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), sepsis and septic shock. It is a hands-on practical guide to be used by health care professionals involved in clinical care management during outbreaks of influenza virus (seasonal) human infection due avian influenza virus (H5N1, H7N9), MERS-CoV, COVID-19 or other emerging respiratory viral epidemics.
Journalism in a pandemic: Covering COVID-19 now and in the future -- A self-directed course for journalists
Produced in collaboration with the WHO, UNESCO and UNDP, this course -- created by the University of Texas-Austin and the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas -- helps journalists to improve their coverage of the pandemic. The course is offered in English, Arabic, French, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish and is self-directed.(Chinese and Hindi self-directed versions are also in the works and will be posted here in the coming months.) The course is free and available to journalists who are interested in acquiring new knowledge and resources to improve your coverage and understanding of the pandemic.
The course was originally presented in May 2020 as a four-week virtual massive open online course (MOOC). Maryn McKenna, a former CNN reporter, created, curated, and presented the content for the course, which includes video classes, readings, exercises, and more.
The course materials are broken up into five modules:
Intro Module: Introduction to the course and the outline of topics
Module 1: Where did COVID-19 come from?
Module 2: Covering COVID-19 right now
Module 3: The hope for treatments and vaccines
Module 4: Coronavirus: The way forward
Webinar: Covering the COVID-19 vaccine: What journalists need to know
This webinar was presented by Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas in partnership with UNESCO & the World Health Organization, with funding from the European Union.
Available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish
Journalism in a pandemic: Covering COVID-19 vaccines -- What journalists need to know
On 29 March, the Knight Center for Journalism in the Americas at the University of Texas-Austin, in collaboration with the WHO, UNESCO and UNDP and with funding from the European Union, will launch its second massive open online course for journalists to improve their coverage of COVID-19 vaccines. The course, led by former CNN correspondent and WIRED journalist Maryn McKenna is initially being offered in English, French, Portuguese, and Spanish. The course is free and available to journalists who are interested in acquiring new knowledge and resources to improve their coverage of COVID-19 vaccine development, production, and distribution.
The course is four once-a-week modules that runs from 29 March to 25 April.
Module 1: The development and technology behind the different vaccines that have been released and that are being created.
Module 2: The acquisition and distribution of vaccines globally, including “vaccine nationalism” and questions of equity.
Module 3: Vaccine hesitancy and anti-vaccination activism, as well as misinformation and disinformation against vaccines
Controlling the Spread of COVID-19 at Ground Crossings
Since the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005) entered into force in 2007, there has been increasing recognition that, unlike airports and ports, ground crossings often constitute informal passages between two countries without a physical structure, barriers, or borders. Moreover, ground crossings play an important role in the international spread of disease. Travellers and people living and working on and around borders are particularly vulnerable to this threat.
Operational Considerations for Managing COVID-19 Cases and Outbreaks in Aviation
Under the International Health Regulations (IHR) 2005, public health authorities at international ports, airports and ground crossings are required to establish effective contingency plans and arrangements for responding to events that may constitute a public health emergency of international concern and to communicate with their National IHR Focal Point about relevant public health measures.
Management of ill travelers at points of entry in the context of the COVID-19 outbreak
Under the International Health Regulations (IHR) 2005, public health authorities at international ports, airports and ground crossings are required to establish effective contingency plans and arrangements for responding to events that may constitute a public health emergency of international concern and to communicate with their National IHR Focal Point about relevant public health measures.
The current outbreak of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) disease has spread across borders through travelers, conveyances, which has prompted demands for the detection and management of suspected cases at points of entry (POE), including ports, airports and ground crossings, on board conveyances.
Operational Considerations for Managing COVID-19 Cases and Outbreaks on Board Ships
Under the International Health Regulations (IHR) 2005, public health authorities at international ports, airports and ground crossings are required to establish effective contingency plans and arrangements for responding to events that may constitute a public health emergency of international concern and to communicate with their National IHR Focal Point about relevant public health measures.
The current outbreak of novel coronavirus (COVID-19) disease has spread across borders through travelers, conveyances, which has prompted demands for the detection and management of suspected cases at points of entry (POE), including ports, airports and ground crossings, on board conveyances.
WHO-ICRC Basic Emergency Care: approach to the acutely ill and injured
Developed by WHO and ICRC, in collaboration with the International Federation for Emergency Medicine, Basic Emergency Care (BEC): Approach to the acutely ill and injured is an open-access training course for frontline healthcare providers who manage acute illness and injury with limited resources, focused on presentations of difficulty in breathing, shock, and altered mental status. Produced in response to requests from multiple countries and international partners, the BEC package includes a Participant Workbook and electronic slide decks for each module. Integrating the guidance from WHO Emergency Triage, Assessment and Treatment (ETAT) for children and the Integrated Management of Adult/Adolescent Illness (IMAI), BEC teaches a systematic approach to the initial assessment and management of time-sensitive conditions where early intervention saves lives. Available in English and Spanish.
WHO Medical Emergency Checklist
The WHO Medical Emergency Checklist is a modified version of the WHO Trauma Care Checklist designed for use in emergency units for patients with acute conditions such as severe difficulty in breathing. It reviews actions at two critical
points to ensure that no life threatening conditions are missed and that timely, life-saving interventions are performed.
The adaptation of this checklist for medical emergency care was led by an expert group from the WHO global emergency care systems network. The WHO Medical Emergency Checklist is appropriate in any setting delivering emergency care, and can be easily adapted to local needs.
Resuscitation Area Designation Tool
The guidance on Resuscitation Area Designation describes a standardized approach to organize resuscitation areas and keep essential resources close at hand, ensuring the sickest patients in the emergency unit are clearly identified and receive needed care.