Course information

Course contents

• Risk communication for Influenza:

  Risk communication is a core public health intervention in any disease outbreak and health emergency. It refers to the real-time exchange of information, advice and opinions between experts, officials and people who face a threat to their well-being, to enable informed decision-making and to adopt protective behaviors. This introductory presentation is adjusted in particular for influenza events. The principles apply to any outbreak and health emergency context.

• Pandemic Influenza Preparedness Planning:

  Pandemic influenza is an acute viral disease of the respiratory tract. Pandemic influenza occurs when an influenza virus that was not previously circulating among people, and to which most people have no immunity, emerges and transmits among people.

• Operationalizing Emergency Response:

  World Health Organisations Emergency Programme (WHE) focuses in the health emergencies and outbreak response. This presentations gives an introduction to emergency management, WHO’s role in emergencies, the emergency response framework and the incident management system.

• Global vaccine stockpile :

  Global Vaccine Stockpiles are needed for various reasons. Stockpiles are critical in responding to epidemics and re-emerging pathogens. Stockpiles also are a security measure, for instance in encountering bioterrorism. Sometimes vaccine demand is unpredictable and situation may require immediate availability, such as measles vaccine. Stockpiles help carry over supply shortages and to buffer stocks. This presentation also provides introduction to International Coordinating Group (ICG). ICG is a mechanism to coordinate the provision of emergency vaccine supplies to countries during major outbreaks.

• Geographic Information System data in epidemic management:

  Geographic Information System is important for epidemic disease management as it enables display and visualization of space-time data, thus helping us understand the entirety of public health events and the context of their occurrence through overlaying with other geospatial information. GIS supports case-based mapping and together with mapping of health facility catchment areas can assist in identification of most vulnerable populations and plan interventions accordingly. The joint use of GIS data and statistics on disease incidence together with environmental/climatic proxies enables identification of associations between potential environmental risk factors and disease outcomes.

• Laboratory networks to support outbreak surveillance and response :

  Laboratory networks to support outbreak surveillance and response presentation covers an overview to current status of laboratory networks in WHO African region, introduction to role of public health laboratory in surveillance and response and what are required laboratory capacities for timely and accurate outbreak detection. Finally, WHO’s emergencies programme’s support to members states in strengthening laboratory capacity in confirming the outbreaks.

• Data and information for epidemic control and Integrated Disease Surveillance and Response (IDSR) :

  Data and information helps the epidemic control by documenting the events. The data and information management can include for instance health systems, information systems, tools, data and datasets. Data and information management enables rapid data collection and analysis during outbreaks and further strengthen the response. It will also provide increased visibility for the epidemic control.

How to enroll

If you would like to enroll for this course, there are no formal prerequisites or limitations. The course is free and open for everyone. Just register for an account on OpenWHO and go for the course!

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