When Dr. Amina, a public health professional in Brazil, heard about the WHO Academy's new learning platform, she was eager to explore its offerings. Like many of her colleagues, she had struggled with fragmented online learning resources, outdated training materials, and the challenge of accessing high-quality courses relevant to her work. But in December 2024, that changed.
Thanks to a successul collaboration between UNITAR's Division on NCD, Digital Health, and Capacity Building, The Defeat-NCD Partnership, and WHO, 140 essential health training courses were successfully migrated onto WHO's Learning Experience Platform (LXP). This effort formed the foundation of WHO Academy's initial course offerings at its launch in Lyon, France, ensuring that healthcare professionals like Dr. Amina could access comprehensive, up-to-date training in one unified space. The courses are available not just in the six UN official languages, but other languages such as Amharic, Hausa, Hindi, Indonesian and Portuguese to make learning accessible to all.
The courses span critical areas such as:
- Disease-Specific Programmes
- Health System Strengthening
- Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR)
- Mental Health and Developmental Support
- Environmental and Occupational Health
- Ethics and Governance, and
- Emergency Preparedness and Response.
By covering such a broad spectrum of public health topics, the initiative equips professionals worldwide with the knowledge and skills needed to tackle urgent health challenges effectively.
Early feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. Since it's launch in December 2024, more than 400 learners have provided insights into their experiences, revealing strong satisfaction rates-88.7% of respondents rated the courses highly, and 82.4% confirmed that learning objectives were successfully met. Moreover, 90.8% found the courses relevant to their work, while 86.3% praised the platform's usability.
For public health professionals like Dr. Amina, this initiative has been transformative. With easy access to high-quality learning, she can enhance her expertise, improve patient care, and contribute to stronger health systems in her community. As UNITAR and WHO continue to refine and expand these efforts, the future of global health training is more accessible, impactful, and inclusive than ever before.
Browse the full collection of 140 courses and experience the transformation firsthand:
