Fast-tracking WHO’s COVID-19 technical guidance to training for the frontline

Overview

The coronavirus disease pandemic has touched nearly every country on the planet. As the virus has spread, so has the demand for trusted information to help frontline personnel and communities respond to the outbreak and ultimately save lives. For WHO, training is part of its response to any health emergency. Restrictions on travel and physical distancing across the globe have meant that traditional means of transferring knowledge from experts to the frontline are challenged, and online learning has come to the fore. In the 3 months after WHO declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on 30 January 2020, the number of course enrolments on WHO’s OpenWHO.org online learning platform increased from 180 000 to more than 2.2 million.