4 October 2018 - Earlier this year Nigeria experienced its largest Lassa fever outbreak ever. For Samuel Mutbam it was a baptism by fire. As WHO’s Deputy Incident Manager he was a key member of the coordination team and often worked for 15 hours a day, with little time to eat.

Mutbam was one of 51 participants from 33 WHO Country Offices across the African region who recently participated in WHO’s Public Health Pre-Deployment Training in the Brazzaville area from 24-29 September 2018.

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10 September 2018 - This course provides a general introduction to leptospirosis through downloadable presentations, transcripts, and quizzes that can be reviewed at your own pace. Objectives of this training are to describe the signs, symptoms and treatment of the disease; identify key preventive actions and describe the main challenges in prevention and control. The course takes approximately one hour to complete.

• Access the course on OpenWHO

22 August 2018 - 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 the 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.

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• Access the courses on OpenWHO

16 August 2018 - Ghana, Morocco, Oman, Tanzania and Tunisia made rapid progress updating and strengthening their pandemic preparedness plans this week. Multi-disciplinary teams from these countries reviewed their plans with experts from WHO and US CDC at a participatory workshop in Tunisia, 13-15 August 2018.

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July 2018 - “The major epidemics we have seen this century highlighted the need for a system that quickly transforms scientific knowledge into action on the ground,” said Dr Gaya Gamhewage, WHO.

WHO's own MOOC platform – OpenWHO – offers online courses specially tailored for health emergency responders. The space is interactive, allowing experiences and expertise to be shared via discussions and feedback.

• See the available courses
• Read more about OpenWHO

27 March 2018 - It may look like a simple stretch, but WHO experts helped national and regional staff in Ethiopia reach new heights in their capacity to communicate health risks during emergencies at a workshop in February.

This was in response to a request from the Federal National Ministry of Health. Ethiopia has grappled with an unprecedented level of disease outbreaks and health emergencies in recent years, highlighting the importance of building expertise in that area.

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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.
WHO’s Knowledge Transfer and Training teams work to establish and scale up a system to enable national and international frontline responders to work in a fast, safe and coordinated manner in disease outbreaks, epidemics and pandemics. This is a core step in strengthening national capacities and WHO’s own response to outbreaks and health emergencies.

• Pandemic and epidemic diseases (PED)
• Watch interview with nurse Nyenpu