WHO

Globally, many countries are facing a broad range of humanitarian emergencies resulting from various hazards, which differ in scale, complexity and consequences. Emergencies may lead to major and possibly continuous disruption of vaccination services provided through primary health care, resulting in a significant drop in vaccination coverage. This may lead to a decrease in population immunity, and increased morbidity and mortality from vaccine-preventable diseases with potential risks for outbreaks. Vaccination should be among the high-priority health interventions implemented to limit the avoidable morbidity and mortality due to Vaccine Preventable diseases. Maintaining or re-establishing routine vaccination services should be the primary objective of every national immunization programme during humanitarian emergencies.

Learning objectives:

The objectives of this online resource are to facilitate:

• the understanding and encourage the use of two documents: Vaccination in Humanitarian Emergencies: An Implementation Guide; and Vaccination in Acute Humanitarian Emergencies: A Framework for Decision Making;
• provides guidance to decision makers and health workers in charge of planning and managing routine or additional vaccination service delivery in a humanitarian emergency context; and
• show the importance of being responsible and proactive when faced with such emergency situations.

After completing these modules, participants will be able to:

• define an acute humanitarian emergency,
• describe the roles and responsibilities of key partners and stakeholders in emergency responses related to immunization,
• access and use the decision-making framework for vaccination in humanitarian emergencies online tool and its complementary resources,
• list the steps and key considerations in planning and implementing a vaccination response in an emergency setting, and
• access complementary resources on emergency vaccination.

A Public Health Emergency Operations Centre (PHEOC) is a physical location for the coordination of information and resources to support incident management activities. PHEOCs are also referred to as “operations centres”, “situation rooms” and “command centres”. Experience has shown that timely implementation of a PHEOC provides an essential platform for the management of public health emergencies and can help avoid common failings such as lack of clear leadership leading to delayed decision making, mismanagement of resources and poor coordination.

This online course is designed as a companion to WHO’s Framework for a Public Health Emergency Operations Centre and is aimed at health emergency preparedness and response professionals, policy makers and partners seeking to implement and sustain Public Health Emergency Operations Centres.

Learning objectives:

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

• describe the content of the PHEOC Framework;
• explain the key concepts of PHEOCs and emergency management;
• define the objectives and function of PHEOCs;
• describe major planning and implementation considerations, the core components and essential requirements of a PHEOC; and
• apply the PHEOC Framework and relevant tools for designing, developing and strengthening PHEOCs.

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 wellbeing, to enable informed decision-making and to adopt protective behaviors.

Welcome to the online course on risk communication, a core public health intervention in any disease outbreak and health emergency. Risk communication refers to the real-time exchange of information, advice and opinions between experts, officials and people who face a threat to their wellbeing, to enable informed decision-making and to adopt protective behaviors. In this set of 5 modules, we will look at: what is risk communication and why it is important; key elements of risk communication; risk communication capacities, such as policy, strategies and evaluation; SOCO, spokesperson tips and message development; and exercises and ways they can be used to test preparedness in communicating risks. Whether you work for the government, the United Nations, an international organization or an NGO, or you are a volunteer, we hope that this course will help you refresh what you already know and help you transform good principles of risk communication into action. We hope that you will be encouraged to look at resources that are attached to each module to dwell further into this topic, to find tools and resources that will help you in your work.

Learning objective:

By the end of this course, participants should be able to understand the core principles of risk communication and its application to disease outbreaks and health emergencies.

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 wellbeing, to enable informed decision-making and to adopt protective behaviors.

Welcome to the online course on risk communication, a core public health intervention in any disease outbreak and health emergency. Risk communication refers to the real-time exchange of information, advice and opinions between experts, officials and people who face a threat to their wellbeing, to enable informed decision-making and to adopt protective behaviors. In this set of 5 modules, we will look at: what is risk communication and why it is important; key elements of risk communication; risk communication capacities, such as policy, strategies and evaluation; SOCO, spokesperson tips and message development; and exercises and ways they can be used to test preparedness in communicating risks. Whether you work for the government, the United Nations, an international organization or an NGO, or you are a volunteer, we hope that this course will help you refresh what you already know and help you transform good principles of risk communication into action. We hope that you will be encouraged to look at resources that are attached to each module to dwell further into this topic, to find tools and resources that will help you in your work.

Learning objective:

By the end of this course, participants should be able to understand the core principles of risk communication and its application to disease outbreaks and health emergencies.

The 21st century has witnessed changes - travel and trade, urbanization, environmental degradation and other trends that increase the risk of disease outbreaks, their spread and amplification into epidemics and pandemics. At the same time, the science and knowledge around infectious hazards are constantly evolving. This introductory level online course will guide you through the new landscape by providing information and tools you need to better manage disease outbreaks and health emergencies. Materials have been originally designed for WHO African region purposes and have therefore references to Africa more than other continents.

Learning objective:

Update your knowledge on infectious hazards management and the interventions needed to better manage disease outbreaks and health emergencies while strengthening your access to tools, resources and expertise across WHO interventions.

Access to responsive, people-centred health systems is essential to ensure appropriate health care for refugees and migrants throughout the process of migration and settlement. Focusing on intercultural competence and diversity sensitivity, this course contributes to a broader WHO strategy to develop an evidence-based response to the public health needs of refugees and migrants.

Learning objectives:

By the end of this course, participants should be able to:

• explain the need for interculturally competent and diversity-sensitive health care;
• explain the importance of education and training in intercultural competence;
• recognize the importance of trained interpreters and intercultural mediators in health care; and
• identify the practical and ethical issues affecting the migrant patients through community participation.

An After Action Review (AAR) is a qualitative review of actions taken in response to an event of public health concern. It is a means of identifying and documenting best practices and challenges demonstrated by the response to the event.

An AAR seeks to identify:

Corrective actions that need to be implemented immediately, to ensure better preparation for and response to the next event;

Medium- and long-term actions needed to strengthen and institutionalize the necessary capabilities of the public health system.

It relies primarily on personal experiences and perceptions of any individuals or entities involved in the response. The process involves a structured facilitated discussion or experience sharing to critically and systematically review what was in place before the response, what happened during the response, what went well, what went less well, why events occurred as they did, and how to improve.

Learning objectives:

By the end of this course, participants should be able to:

• Explain the context and the purpose of an AAR;
• Describe the general flow of the AAR process (by using the working group format);
• Distinguish roles and responsibilities of facilitators in the AAR process and describe the techniques for participatory facilitation; and
• Indicate the resources available for conducting an AAR and know where to find them.

This online course aims to equip frontline responders with the knowledge to address all hazards and emergency response situations at both country and regional levels using the World Health Emergency Operation Readiness program. By the end of this course participants should be able: to describe each core element of OPR; understand what Operational Readiness (OPR) is and how it is achieved; implement, enhance, and support OPR within their emergency functions/duties; and advocate support for OPR in their settings.

Learning objectives:

By the end of this course, participants should be able to:

• understand what Operational Readiness (OPR) is and how it is achieved;
• describe each core element of OPR;
• implement, enhance, support OPR at your level and within your function/duties;
• advocate support for OPR in your setting; and
• be prepared to follow the more advanced face-to-face Tier 2 course.

Go.Data is a field data collection platform focusing on case data (including lab, hospitalization and other variables though case investigation form) and contact data (including contact follow-up). This briefing package provides an orientation to the purpose, benefits and utilization of Go.Data, consisting of 7 modules with a narrated walkthrough of the key features of the Go.Data web-based platform and mobile application.

Learning objectives:

By the end of this briefing, participants should be able to:

• state what Go.Data is and is not;
• describe the context of potential application of Go.Data in an outbreak investigation;
• describe the type of data Go.data handles and what Go.Data can do with that data; and
• recall the Go.Data IT infrastructure and how the Go.Data tool is supported.

Every individual working in emergencies for WHO must be familiar with the Incident Management System (IMS). This course builds on the introductory IMS course to provide a deeper understanding of the system that WHO uses to organize and manage its response. It should be completed by all current or potential members of IMS functional teams, including non-WHO staff who will deploy.

Learning objectives:

By the end of this course, participants should be able to:

• explain the role of the Incident Management System in WHO's emergency response;
• describe the roles of the functions within WHO's IMS;
• describe the ethical principles which underpin WHO's work in emergencies;
• explain different factors that contribute to effective teamwork; and
• describe how to prepare for a deployment.