OpenWHO reached an exciting milestone this week: More than 100 000 course enrolments!

We would like to thank you, the frontline health workers, decision makers, researchers, experts, medical students and other learning enthusiasts across the globe for making the “open-to-all” concept possible. The virtual health community is growing fast thanks to your passion for health and for Health for All.

OpenWHO will continue to transfer the latest and most relevant scientific, technical and operational knowledge to our growing community to improve health emergency response:

• Outbreak channel: Offers introductory courses on a wide range of diseases, including cholera, Ebola, Zika, yellow fever and MERS.
• Preparing for Pandemics: Brings together courses on various aspects of a pandemic.
• Ready for Response: Provides essential knowledge for ongoing outbreak response, enabling frontline responders to respond better, faster and more safely.
• Get Social: Focuses on cross-cutting interventions, such as risk communication.

As we work to create a better OpenWHO, we look forward to receiving your continued feedback through our help desk.

Thank you again for enabling us to achieve this important milestone for OpenWHO.

The Engish version of this course is also available at: https://openwho.org/courses/risk-communication

Toute personne travaillant pour l’OMS dans des situations d’urgence doit se familiariser avec la Communication sur les Risques (RC). Le programme de gestion des situations d’urgence sanitaire (WHE) de l’OMS a mis au point un nouveau cours fondé sur la communication sur les risques pour mieux comprendre le Système que l’OMS utilise pour organiser et gérer ses interventions.

Vous pouvez accéder à ce nouveau cours ici : https://openwho.org/courses/communication-sur-les-risques

Le programme pédagogique se compose de 4 modules avec narration audio et quizz. Il couvre : (1) I’introduction au cours sur la communication sur les risques ; (2) les rudiments de la communication sur les risques ; (3) les capacités de communication sur les risques ; et (4) les outils de communication sur les risques.

Tous les membres actuels ou potentiels des équipes fonctionnelles de la communication sur les risques, y compris le personnel non affecté à l'OMS qui sera déployé, doivent suivre ce cours. Cela prendra environ 8 heures (Aucun certificat de réussite ne sera remis aux participants à l’issu de ce cours).

Nos complace anunciar la versión en español del curso combinado «Accelerating progress towards health-related SDGs – Short track» en OpenWHO. Usted puede acceder al curso a través del siguiente enlace: https://openwho.org/courses/ODS3-salud-bienestar

Este curso intenta ofrecer una visión general de los conceptos, estrategias y oportunidades fundamentales para trabajar eficazmente con los Estados miembros de la OMS y los agentes no estatales para lograr las metas de los ODS relacionados con la salud y la cobertura universal de salud. Esta es una versión condensada del curso más extenso «Accelerating progress towards health related SDGs», que está disponible a través de iLearn. Uno de los principales objetivos de este curso es crear una comprensión más profunda de por qué la CUS y la seguridad sanitaria juegan un papel fundamental en la Agenda 2030 y cómo las seis líneas de acción de la OMS pueden ayudar a acelerar su cumplimiento hasta 2030.

Los profesionales de la salud y no sanitarios, como el personal de la OMS, el personal del Ministerio de Salud, otras organizaciones públicas y no gubernamentales pertinentes, pueden beneficiarse de este curso, ya que están en posiciones críticas para apoyar la aceleración del fortalecimiento de los sistemas de salud para la CUS y la adopción de un enfoque de «salud en todas las políticas» para no dejar atrás a nadie. Este curso pretende apoyarlos en este rol.

El curso tiene una duración de 2 horas. Se entrega una confirmación de participación a quienes hayan completado al menos el 50% del material de curso. Una versión del curso detallado en inglés también está disponible en iLearn: https://who.csod.com/client/who/default.aspx

This course is also available in English and French.

English: https://who.csod.com/client/who/default.aspx
French: https://openwho.org/courses/ODD3-sante-bien-etre

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We are pleased to announce the online course Simulation Exercise Management: Introduction on OpenWHO. You can access the course through the following link: https://openwho.org/courses/simex

This course will provide an overview of simulation exercises and how they play a key role in identifying the strengths and gaps in the development and implementation of preparedness measures. The use of exercises ensures that public health emergency response systems are in place to manage health emergencies. In the WHO Department of Emergency Preparedness and Response (WHE), simulation exercises play an important role in the work of many teams. These teams provide cross-cutting technical inputs, resources, facilitation and other services.

Regional Offices and country offices provide the main entry point for all Member States in support of all the various WHE emergency simulation exercises.

The aim of the course is to familiarize you with the WHO methodology, process and definitions used, and resources available. There are three modules, as follows:

• Module 1 gives the overview of Simulation Exercises and their management;
• Module 2 deals with the Project Management of Simulation Exercises;
  
• Module 3 gives an overview of the WHO Resources and Tools available in preparation for the Simulation Exercise.

The course will take approximately 1 hour to finish. At the end of the course, a certificate of achievement will be provided to participants who score 80% or higher on the final assessment.

Hoping to count you among the participants, the OpenWHO team wishes you a successful training!

OpenWHO team

National deployment and vaccination plans for pandemic influenza vaccines represent an important foundation for an effective and efficient pandemic influenza deployment response, which should be reflected in successful vaccination of the target population with no vaccine wastage and optimal operational efficiency.

This course provides a concise and easily accessible overview of planning considerations for countries to develop and update their national deployment and vaccination plans on the use and deployment of pandemic influenza vaccines.

You can access the new course here: Pandemic Influenza Vaccines: National Deployment and Vaccination Plans https://openwho.org/courses/ndvp-en

The learning package consists of 10 modules with video presentations and quizzes. It covers: (1) Vaccination strategies, (2) Management and organization, (3) Legal and regulatory planning, (4) Communication and information management, (5) Human resources and security, (6) Public communication, (7) Supply chain management, (8) Managing waste, (9) Post-deployment surveillance and management of adverse events following immunization, (10) Termination of deployment and vaccination operations.

Professionals in the public and private sectors who are responsible for planning and managing deployment and vaccination operations at all levels as well as WHO headquarters, regional and in-country personnel that could be involved in pandemic influenza vaccine deployment activities should complete this course.

The course will take approximately 1 hour to complete. A record of achievement will be provided to participants who score 80% or higher on each assessment.

Best wishes for a successful training!

Sincerely,

The OpenWHO team

Every individual working in emergencies for WHO must be familiar with the Incident Management System (IMS). The WHO Health Emergencies Programme has developed a new course that builds on the introductory IMS course to provide a deeper understanding of the system that WHO uses to organize and manage its response.

The learning package is comprised of 5 modules with audio narration and quizzes. It covers: (1) the key elements of WHO’s IMS and working in Emergency Operations Centres; (2) how the functional teams within the IMS work together; (3) the ethical standards that are required to be upheld by those deployed by WHO during an emergency; (4) how to work effectively in a team; and (5) the process of deploying and staying healthy.

All current or potential members of IMS functional teams, including non-WHO staff who will deploy, should complete this course. It will take approximately 3 hours. A certificate of achievement will be provided to participants who score 80% or higher on each assessment.

You can access the new course here: IMS Tier 2: Working in WHO’s Incident Management System https://openwho.org/courses/incident-management-system-tier2

Please note: Before beginning this intermediate-level package, we recommend that you complete the introductory IMS course (Tier 1) https://openwho.org/courses/incident-management-system

We are pleased to announce the online course “Introduction: Operational Readiness (Tier 1)” on OpenWHO. You can access the course through the following link: https://openwho.org/courses/operational-readiness-introduction

This course will provide an overview of the WHO Health Emergencies Operational Readiness program (OPR). The course offers an outline of Operational Readiness and presents the five minimum readiness standards as defined by WHO during the Global Meeting on Operational Readiness in December 2017. In two modules, the course will highlight how Operational Readiness can be achieved and applied to all hazards and emergencies. Modules 1 will review and describe to participants the core elements of OPR and how it is achieved, implemented to ensure countries, partners and WHO offices can increase their readiness to emergency response. Modules 2 will illustrate the 5 minimum OPR standards and explain how participants can support OPR at their levels and within their functions of work. This course is meant to assist and educate you to be an advocate of the Operational Readiness program.

The course will take approximately 1 hour to finish.

Hoping to count you among the participants, the OpenWHO team wishes you a successful training!

OpenWHO.org est la première plateforme de l'Organisation Mondiale de la Santé à intégrer des concepts d'apprentissage en ligne ouverts et massifs dans les interventions d'urgence. Un an après son lancement en juin 2017, OpenWHO est passé d'un projet pilote à une communauté de professionnels de la santé florissante de plus de 35 000 utilisateurs et plus de 40 cours.

La plateforme comprend divers types de produits et comprend du matériel destiné aux travailleurs de la santé et aux travailleurs communautaires qui sont en première ligne de la réponse à l'éclosion. Le matériel comprend des connaissances épidémiologiques et des interventions sanitaires sur des maladies infectieuses comme la maladie du virus Ebola (Ebola), la fièvre jaune, la peste et le choléra. Ces documents sont également produits dans les langues locales les plus couramment utilisées par les intervenants locaux dans les zones d'éclosion.

Lors de la dernière flambée d'Ebola, OpenWHO a aidé à équiper les agents de santé et a reçu plus de 4000 enregistrements provenant de plus de 100 pays.

The WHO Health Emergencies Programme’s Knowledge Transfer Team, together with disease technical experts, has created an online learning pathway for Ebola responders. There are currently 5 different learning resources on OpenWHO.org in English and French and each of them addresses a different type of learning need, from a disease introduction, to a staff pre-deployment briefing, to a function-specific resource for clinical management of Ebola.

The need for knowledge transfer in infectious disease outbreaks was recognized during the 2014–2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa. Similarly, in all major epidemics of past years, including yellow fever and Zika, there has been an increased need for a system that quickly transforms scientific knowledge into action on the ground. OpenWHO.org was born from that need.

One year after the launch, the OpenWHO platform has been particularly useful for emergencies and its suitability has been tested in real time during recent responses: the plague outbreak in Madagascar; clinical management of diphtheria for the Rohingya refugee crisis in Bangladesh; the Lassa fever outbreak in Nigeria; and the Ebola outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

For the Ebola outbreaks in DRC, materials were produced at very short notice and distributed to and used by responders on the front lines, as well as in neighbouring countries. The outbreaks occurred in Uélé province (2017) and Équateur province (2018), and, as of August 2018, there is an outbreak in North Kivu province. The importance of producing accurate materials in the appropriate formats and languages at the right time is central to this work. The Ebola-specific learning pathway includes resources for frontline responders in Lingala and Congolese Swahili, which are the most-spoken languages in the affected provinces.

The following materials are available on OpenWHO.org in support of the Ebola response:

Ebola: Introduction This introductory or refresher pack on the disease is aimed at all response personnel. The presentation covers signs, symptoms and transmission of Ebola, preventive and control measures, as well as the main public health concerns during an outbreak, and is available in 4 languages: English, French, Lingala and Swahili.

Ebola: Knowledge resources for responders The knowledge resources for responders course contains an introductory module on Ebola virus disease, a module on building trust and engaging communities in Ebola outbreak response, and a knowledge pack – an interactive pdf linking to the most up-to-date key technical documents for the response.

ePROTECT – Occupational health and safety briefing The ePROTECT course provides the basic information one needs to protect personnel when deploying to countries with Ebola.

Ebola: GO pre-deployment training Ebola: GO 2.0 was developed in 2018 for WHO deployees to work safely and effectively as part of teams bringing Ebola outbreaks under control. The learning material is designed to complement the updated ePROTECT training.

Ebola: Clinical management of Ebola virus disease This course is based on the WHO Viral Haemorrhagic Fever pocket guide (February 2016) and adapted from materials developed by the WHO Emerging Diseases Clinical Assessment and Response Network (EDCARN) network. It provides practical information for clinicians providing direct care.

We are pleased to announce the French version of the combined course “Accelerating progress towards health-related SDGs - Short track” on OpenWHO. You can access the course through the following link: https://openwho.org/courses/ODD3-sante-bien-etre .

This course aims to provide an overview of key concepts, strategies and opportunities for effectively working with WHO Member states and non-state actors to achieve health-related SDG targets and Universal Health Coverage (UHC). It is a condensed version of the more extensive “Accelerating progress towards health-related SDGs”, which is available through iLearn. One of the main objectives of this course is to create a deeper understanding of why UHC and health security play essential roles in the SDG agenda and how WHO’s six lines of action can help accelerate its fulfilment until 2030.

Health, non-health professionals such as WHO staff, staff at Ministry of health, other relevant public and non-governmental organizations can benefit from this course, as they are in critical positions to support acceleration of health systems strengthening for UHC and the adoption of a “health in all policies” approach in order to leave no one behind. This course aims to support them in this role.

The course takes 2 hours to complete. A confirmation of participation is issued to those who have completed at least 50% of the course material.

An English version of the detailed course is also available on iLearn : https://who.csod.com/client/who/default.aspx

All personnel responding to Ebola outbreaks need to have basic knowledge and skills in order to mount an effective response. OpenWHO has developed an updated GO training package so WHO deployees can work safely and effectively as part of the teams bringing outbreaks under control.

You can access the course through the following link: https://openwho.org/courses/GO-en.

The learning package consists of 7 modules, which include video lectures and downloadable presentations that have been updated with the latest information and developments. It begins with an introduction to Ebola virus disease before moving to the response strategy and essential information related to working for WHO, including new modules on HR matters and emergency standard operating procedures.

This course will take approximately 3 hours to complete. A certificate of achievement will be provided to participants who score 80% or higher on each assessment.

The materials are designed to complement the ePROTECT training, which is available here: https://openwho.org/courses/e-protect.

Decision-makers and frontline responders can also find additional OpenWHO resources on Ebola virus disease in English, French and Lingala via the following link: https://openwho.org/courses/knowledge-resources-ebola.

The OpenWHO team wishes you an educational and successful training!

OpenWHO has published a comprehensive intermediate level course for clinicians caring for patients with suspected or confirmed Ebola virus disease (EVD): Clinical management of Ebola virus disease.

This short course provides information on screening and triage, infection prevention and control, laboratory diagnostics, organization of the Ebola Treatment Centre (ETC), clinical care of patients in the ETC, and investigational therapeutic agents. The modules include slides that present practical information and clinical knowledge that can be easily applied when caring for patients.

This course will take approximately 6 hours to complete.

We are pleased to announce the online course “Seasonal influenza: Clinical management of seasonal influenza” on OpenWHO. You can access the course through the following link: https://openwho.org/courses/seasonal-influenza-clinical-management

This short, intermediate-level course is for frontline health workers caring for patients with suspected or confirmed seasonal influenza infection. This can be used by clinicians working in any sector of the health care system, including health posts, primary care, and district and national level hospitals.

The modules include short video lectures and slides that present practical information and clinical knowledge that can be easily applied when caring for patients.

This course will take approximately 3 hours to complete.

We are pleased to announce the online course “Crimean-Congo Haemorrhagic Fever: Introduction” on OpenWHO. You can access the course through the following link: https://openwho.org/courses/crimean-congo-haemorrhagic-fever-introduction.

Crimean-Congo haemorrhagic fever (CCHF) is a widespread disease caused by a tick-borne virus that can result in severe viral haemorrhagic fever outbreaks, with case fatality rates of 10–40%. CCHF is endemic in Africa, the Balkans, the Middle East and Asian countries south of the 50th parallel north – the geographical limit of the principal tick vector.

This introductory course provides a general introduction to CCHF and is intended for frontline responders engaged in preventing and managing outbreaks.

It will take approximately 1 hour to complete.

Hoping to count you among the participants, the OpenWHO team wishes you a successful training!

As part of its mission to provide essential knowledge to emergency responders around the world, OpenWHO has developed a new series of courses supporting the work on Pandemic Influenza Preparedness (PIP).

Since OpenWHO’s launch last year, the Pandemic and epidemic-prone diseases course has proven extremely popular, with registration surpassing 3,600 participants from nearly 100 different countries. OpenWHO now also offers independent courses on specific diseases, including the different types of influenza threats:

• Avian and other zoonotic influenza: Introduction [EN] [FR],
• Pandemic influenza: Introduction [EN] [FR] and
• Seasonal influenza: Introduction [EN] [FR].

Recognizing the importance of surveillance and understanding the impacts of an influenza outbreak, OpenWHO has added new courses that provide responders and policy makers alike with helpful tools for developing strategies:

• Estimating the burden of seasonal influenza [EN],
• Influenza sentinel surveillance training [EN] and
• Pandemic Influenza Severity Assessment (PISA) [EN].

Improving risk communication capacities at all levels is an essential aspect of preparing for the potential of an influenza pandemic. That is why OpenWHO has dedicated several courses to this cross-cutting discipline:

• Communication Essentials for Member States [EN],
• Public health interventions in pandemics and epidemics [EN],
• Risk communication essentials [EN] and
• Risk communication for influenza events [EN/FR/SP].

OpenWHO’s growing course catalog has helped make WHO guidance on Pandemic Influenza Preparedness more accessible and actionable.

We are pleased to announce the online course “Cholera: Revised Cholera Kits and Cholera Kits calculation tool” on OpenWHO. You can access the course through the following link: https://openwho.org/courses/cholera-kits.

In 2016 WHO introduced the Cholera Kits. These kits replace the Interagency Diarrhoeal Disease Kit (IDDK) which had been used for many years. The Cholera Kits are designed to be flexible and adaptable for preparedness and outbreak response in different contexts.

This course is made up of two parts: a short introduction to the Cholera Kits and modules, and a demonstration of the Cholera Kit Calculation Tool that provides a quick and simple way to calculate needs for the new Cholera Kits and modules.

It will take approximately 1 hour to complete the entire course.

The information note, packing lists and the Kit Calculation Tool are all available from the WHO website at: http://www.who.int/cholera/kit/en/

Hoping to count you among the participants, the OpenWHO team wishes you a successful training!

WHO has supported the Rohingya crisis response in Cox's Bazar through various public health interventions. At the core of this work was clinical management of diphtheria. A number of training materials were developed for the response, including both online learning and face-to-face training.

In December 2017, the WHO Health Emergencies Programme launched an online learning for clinical staff on respiratory diphtheria through the OpenWHO.org platform. The 4-hour course targets clinicians caring for patients during outbreaks in vulnerable settings, such as in Cox's Bazar. It is also applicable to clinicians working in settings that share similar challenges, due to limitations of: laboratory capacity, availability of treatment facilities, number of trained staff, medications, medical supplies, and supportive care.

300 clinical experts took the course within the first month of its launch, with the majority of enrolments from Bangladesh, but also from India and Yemen. With the OpenWHO App, users can now view course content on a mobile device, with or without internet connection, once it has been downloaded: an important feature needed in vulnerable settings. Material is now being translated into Bahasa Indonesia and Arabic.

Course link: https://openwho.org/courses/diphtheria-clinical-management

We are pleased to announce the release of WHO first ever evidence-based guideline on Emergency Risk Communication.

During public health emergencies, people need to know what health risks they face, and what actions they can take to protect their lives, their health, their families and communities.The recommendations in this guideline provide overarching, evidence-based guidance on how risk communication should be practised in an emergency. The recommendations also guide countries on building capacity for communicating risk during health emergencies.

Read the guidelines here Join OpenWHO risk communication essentials course here WHO’s work in risk communication

We are pleased to announce the online course “Antimicrobial Stewardship: A competency-based approach” on OpenWHO. You can access the course through the following link: https://openwho.org/courses/AMR-competency

This course will provide a framework for approaching each clinical encounter from the perspective of combating antimicrobial resistance. Using case based examples the course will highlight how antimicrobial stewardship principles can be applied to common clinical scenarios. Modules A – E will review foundational clinical knowledge necessary to use antimicrobials wisely. Modules F – N will illustrate how clinicians can incorporate this knowledge into the management of patients with common infections through adherence to the five Core Competencies of appropriate antimicrobial prescribing. This course is meant to assist you in clinical practice and inspire you to be a champion of antimicrobial stewardship.

The course will take approximately 8 hours to finish. A confirmation of participation is issued to those who have completed at least 80% of the course material.

Hoping to count you among the participants, the OpenWHO team wishes you a successful training!

The 21st century poses new and persistent challenges in detecting and managing infectious hazards: severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), influenza and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS) are examples that can be added to more recent health emergencies, such as Ebola or Zika. These outbreaks and epidemics have highlighted the need to systematically include social science-based interventions (SSI) in any health emergency response.

While medical anthropologists and social scientists have been part of outbreak response teams in the past, recent outbreaks underscored the fact that most social scientists are not systematically embedded into response operations and there is no framework to consider their inputs and advice to inform real-time decision-making by incident managers, emergency operations centre leads and others.

WHO has therefore established SocialNET, a network of social scientists with the required qualifications and operational experiences to work in epidemics, pandemics and other health emergencies.

There are currently 24 social scientists trained and available to be deployed to countries in need for support in preparedness and response to health emergencies.

The SocialNET network is composed of a pool of social scientists trained to work as part of the health operations in the field, in close collaboration with key stakeholders, including focal persons for community engagement, risk communication and public communication.

They are ready to deploy to countries during non-emergency periods to help build capacity for integrating social science-based approaches and interventions for emergency response, build up baseline social and cultural data that relate to known risky behaviours, and mitigate health risks.

All social scientists within the pool have underwent an intense WHO training on how to work in health emergencies. The training consisted of three parts: 1) An online course on OpenWHO, a WHO training platform for health emergencies; 2) A face-to-face classroom discussions and exercises; and 3) A face-to-face simulation exercise to put theory into practice.

We are pleased to announce the online course “Incident Management System” on OpenWHO, now both in English and in French. You can access the English version of the course through the following link: https://openwho.org/courses/incident-management-system

First tier of a series of training developed by the WHO's Health Emergencies Programme (WHE), this course aims at strengthening WHO staff competencies, skills and knowledge to enhance WHE’s deployment and response capability. It includes four animated modules covering an introduction to emergency management, WHO’s role in emergencies, the emergency response framework and the incident management system. You will have the opportunity to participate on the course discussion board, share experiences and gain insights from other experts working in this field.

This first tier corresponds with the mandatory minimum package that all personnel being deployed on a WHO health emergency response must complete. Any organization or person external to WHO that will be deployed in response to a health emergency is encouraged to participate.

The course takes approximately 3 hours to complete. A certificate will be issued upon completion of the course material.

Hoping to count you among the participants, the OpenWHO team whished you a successful training!

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C’est avec un grand plaisir que nous vous annonçons le cours en ligne « Système de gestion des incidents » sur OpenWHO en français. Vous pouvez accéder au cours via le lien suivant: https://openwho.org/courses/systeme-de-gestion-des-incidents/

Premier d’une série de cours développée par le Programme d'urgence de l'Organisation mondiale de la santé (WHE), ce cours a pour objectif de renforcer les compétences et les connaissances du personnel de l'OMS pour le déploiement et les interventions d'urgence. Ce cours comporte quatre modules animés couvrant une introduction à la gestion des urgences, le rôle de l’OMS dans les urgences, le cadre d’intervention d’urgence et le système de gestion des incidents. Vous aurez l’opportunité de participer à un forum de discussion pour partager vos expériences et échanger des idées avec d'autres experts travaillant dans ce domaine.

Toute personne déployée sur une réponse d'urgence sanitaire de l'OMS doit compléter ce cours. Les organisations et personnes externes à l’OMS déployées sur une réponse à une urgence sanitaire sont également encouragées à participer.

Le cours dure environ 3 heures. Un certificat sera délivré en fin de formation.

En espérant vous compter parmi les participants, l’équipe OpenWHO vous souhaite un bon apprentissage!

More than 100 WHO staff members and partners from all three levels of the organization are taking part in knowledge exchange and team building initiative “Managing epidemics of the 21st century”. This three-phase, WHO-certified learning programme helps shape the work for the future generations of participants and frontline responders in health emergencies.

The initiative is part of WHO's reforms to improve its work in health emergencies to meet expectations from governments, partners, stakeholders, donors and decision-makers for technical excellence and sound public health advice and actions. Three phases of the learning programme include:

· on-line preparation on OpenWHO.org platform in February-March 2017

· face-to-face workshop in Dakar, Senegal, 21-23 March 2017

· follow up with monthly on-line briefings during May-November 2017

Stronger collaboration with partners

The face-to-face workshop on 21-23 March 2017 in Dakar, Senegal brought together 125 participants from 45 African countries, including WHO staff and donors, such as CDC, UNICEF, IFRC, the World Bank, ECHO and USAID to maximize expertise-sharing, build-up of competences, and common approaches through interactive exercises.

“Recent experience has highlighted that major epidemics in the 21st century highlight the need for a system to quickly transform scientific knowledge into action on the ground," said Dr Gaya Gamhewage, Manager of Interventions and Guidance team at WHO. "Knowledge that is understandable and actionable is essential to mounting an effective response to save lives, minimize illness, and prevent unnecessary damage to societies and economies."

“It is essential that our experts, staff, and teams have the latest science and knowledge to work with colleagues across the Organization to deal with disease outbreaks effectively and efficiently. AFRO Member States, and those beyond the region, depend on us to quickly identify infectious hazards, detect outbreaks and launch fast, effective responses.”

Workshop produced a set of recommendations and key actions to be taken in different levels of the organization and listed the areas to be further explored in the learning programme.

Participants will continue to use WHO's new learning platform OpenWHO to follow new learning courses, discussions, and briefings related to health emergencies.

Major epidemics in the 21st century highlight the need for a system to quickly transform scientific knowledge into action on the ground. Knowledge that is understandable and actionable is essential to mounting an effective response to save lives, minimize illness and to prevent unnecessary damage to societies and economies.

"As we launch this new programme of WHO in emergencies, at the core of the reforms is ensuring that WHO's response to infectious disease outbreaks is at the cutting edge," said Dr Peter Salama, Executive Director of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme (WHE).

To maximize expertise-sharing and build-up of competences and common approaches among Infectious Hazards Management personnel at all three levels of the Organization, more than 125 experts will come together for a joint, interactive face-to-face workshop taking place on 21-23 March 2017 in Dakar, Senegal.

"When we have risk in one region, it can also be in another region very quickly because of the density of transport and people moving from one country to the other," said Dr Ibrahima-soce Fall, AFRO Regional Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme (RED/WHA). "We really need to work together to analyze the risk and to have the mechanism for experience sharing."

This workshop will be a culmination of an ongoing online preparation, which currently takes place on the OpenWHO platform. It aims to bring all participants to a similar level of expertise regarding priority diseases and cross-cutting issues in Africa.