Are you aware of the training resources developed by the World Health Organisation (W.H.O.) in response to pandemic situations and other contagious disease outbreaks?
If not, you should review their training resources in order to prevent the spread of various diseases including SARS viruses and monkeypox. The COVID-19 courses by the World Health Organisation were designed to help you develop appropriate workplace policies, personnel protections, and reporting measures. Links to W.H.O. resources, including online training by the World Health Organisation re COVID-19, are included below.
Public health workers, education professionals and management teams are strongly encouraged to take the online training by the World Health Organisation (W.H.O.).
Staying abreast of the W.H.O.’s daily Virus situation reports and Global Disease outbreak reports.
Following the right sources of information is particularly important if you’re holding a leadership position.
Business owners, management teams, and individuals with workplace health and safety responsibilities must stay up to date with developments in relation to outbreaks of various diseases and pandemics.
It is important to implement the prevention measures and reporting requirements advised by the W.H.O. to help protect our populations from the further rapid spreading of new variants and emerging viruses.
The World Health Organisation acted rapidly to develop online training courses for disease prevention measures and pandemic response projects.
These World Health Organisation online training courses are available in multiple languages.
If ever there was a situation which demonstrated the value of online training courses — especially their instant accessability and language translation capacities — it’s in relation to the rapidly spreading COVID-19 (corona virus) that moved across the globe in 2020 and 2021…much like a Tsunami. Connie May MHST
Fortunately, as reporting measures improved — and the seriousness of the coronavirus outbreaks came further to light — the World Health Organisation acted very rapidly to develop daily updates and online training courses.
Early during the pandemic (5 March 2020, when this article was first published), there were over 44 Corona Virus (COVID-19) Daily Situation Updates published online since early January.
About 2.5 years later, by mid-October 2022, there were extensive Global Pandemic Statistic Reports from the World Health Organisation being posted on a daily & weekly basis.
Fatality Statistics from the SARS-CoV19 pandemic
As of 9 October 2022, there have been:
- 618 million confirmed cases of SARS-CoV19 including variants of concern
- 6.5 million deaths have been reported globally.
These reports and a wide variety of the W.H.O.’s online courses are available at the links below.
Workplace Health and Safety Responses to SARS-CoV-2 Outbreaks
The WHO-designed training courses, such as those developed in response to the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, aimed at helping health workers (and the public) understand and react appropriately to suspected cases of illnesses from SARS-CoV-2; and other contagious disease outbreaks such as Monkeypox.
They also developed a desktop coronavirus case simulation exercise (which was highly recommended for WHS and medical personnel).
W.H.O. Technical Guidance on pandemic responses – resources
Click on the image below to review the World Health Organisation’s technical guidance for COVID-19.
Which online training course topics, and recommendations, are available from the World Health Organisation (W.H.O.)?
The W.H.O. Guidelines and Training Resources
To assist countries in recognising, reporting, treating and preventing the rapid spread of diseases including new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the W.H.O.:
- has developed numerous online courses for health professionals, government officials, public health researchers and the general public
- publishes new online guidance documentation with daily or weekly updates and new research publications
- provided multilingual resources for staying updated on global disease outbreaks situations
Examples of W.H.O. online training courses for COVID-19 include:
- video resources explaining facts from fiction
- technical guidance on monitoring, prevention and treatment of coronavirus illnesses and deaths
- prevention (including hand hygiene)
- recognising common symptoms
- COVID-19 testing
- quarantine recommendations
- medical care/hospital treatments
- printed guidelines including for reporting the virus to the W.H.O. for tracing the spread
- community prevention recommendations including recommendations in relation to face masks
- travel advice
- prevention of racism (e.g., racist responses) and panic-driven communications
- warnings about fraudulent treatment claims for Covid-19
World Health Organisation Videos on pandemic responses
VIDEO: The W.H.O. changed high-risk category for COVID-19 to “very high global risk” category (Released 28 February 2020).
VIDEO: How can you tell the pandemic-related virus strains from flu strains? (Released 3 March 2020).
The impact of the Corona Virus (COVID-19) on traditional education delivery is predicted to become devastating.
How Universities are responding to the COVID-19 Health Crisis
In response to COVID-19, many top Universities in Australia and across the globe:
- delayed the start of the semester
- delayed the return of lecturers and students to campus
- devoted resources to properly assessing risks of COVID-19 virus spread on their campuses and classrooms
- sent early communications to their students and University personnel including associate lecturers
- ensured effective policies were in place, in writing, and that their personnel/lecturers were fully trained on the matter, e.g.
- advising lecturers of how to reduce risks to personnel and students (SOPs)
- when and how to discuss prevention measures in classroom settings in view of high to very high global risks of the disease spread
- implemented W.H.O. informed risk-management approaches including improved communication on hand hygiene (and supplying adequate numbers of hand sanitisers on campus and in kitchen facilities)
- discouraged social gatherings and close contact between students, especially where anyone may have had contact with anyone exposed to, or carrying, the virus
Education disrupted…or Education adapted?
- Several top universities in Australia, who were responsive in an agile-driven manner, quickly implemented alternatives to classroom instruction and assessments.
- They geared up quickly to offer remote training options via the Internet of Things (IOT).
- They also updated their existing digital training resources and online courses.
Other industries have done the same. Partially in response to COVID-19 and partially in response to the PIC/S 009-14 GMP requirements likely to be implemented in additional countries over the next few months, there have also been recent updates to online courses for pharmaceutical engineering, manufacturing and distribution regulation compliance.
Example: PharmOut’s recent updates include cGMP online training for PIC/S 009-14 regulations — available online.
Our Annex 2 training course, in particular, is popular for manufacturing personnel, post-graduate researchers, and science/laboratory professionals who need to better understanding Annex 2 (PIC/S cGMP requirements) covering manufacturing regulations for biological medicines for human use, including vaccines).
Examples of how Universities in Australia have responded to the Corona Virus (COVID19)
- Resource: University of Sydney’s advice in March 2020 for lecturers and students.
- Resource: RMIT’s advice on the Corona Virus (latest updates) and campus risks.
- Resource: Australian National University’s response to Corona Virus risks on campus.
- Resource: University of Adelaide’s response to Corona Virus contagion risks.
Adapting to fully digitally-delivered education may become the ‘new normal’
Several universities have already implemented fully-remote learning options for students stranded overseas.
Others are in the process of doing so.
- These digital courses offer e-learning as well as face-to-face learning, but not in person — face-to-face is delivered via the internet of things.
- This reduces the risk of virus transfer in student-dense classrooms, dining halls and break rooms.
Digital course options, in the wake of COVID-19 travel restrictions and campus closures, will prove valuable to thousands of students and education providers.
Thousands of students have had their education progress interrupted by the rapid virus spread.
- Many international students remain unable to re-enter the country from overseas locations.
- They are experiencing severe disruptions to study completion and expected graduation time frames.
The impact of disruptions in our education industry — including the fall-out to the economy, future job skills, education support services including accommodation providers, and the loss of new-graduate industry talent, could prove devastating. Devastating, that is…unless the industry adapts.
And they will need to do so in rapid order.
Savvy university leaders will adapt readily to develop remote learning formats to prevent further delays — and extensive income losses from these students being unable to attend their campuses. The student accommodation market will certainly take a hit as well; and overall, campus amenities will need to be scaled back — not a happy factor for an already stressed economy in Australia and around the world.
A delay in adapting to the situation might spell the death knell for several Universities in Australia (and other education providers, such as RTOs).
Being slow-footed in providing rapidly accessable alternatives to in-classroom education services could prove detrimental to even the most highly-regarded of our educational institutions.
Education Boards and University Chancellor’s must recognise this factor and support resources towards online and remote-learning options.
This is related to the impacts of the virus across the globe, and subsequent quarantines and/or travel bans aimed at preventing, or at least slowing down, the spread of the disease while UQ researchers worked frantically towards a coronavirus vaccination.
- Universities and students across the globe are now evaluating their options for continuing education, without contributing to the spread of this contagious disease.
- There’s also been an increase in PharmOut’s online training for PIC/S GMP – Annex 2 (Manufacture of Biological Medicines for human use) as laboratories ramp up the race for effective tests and vaccinations.
At the end of the day, e-learning and other forms of remote learning are going to increase in demand.
If you haven’t yet accessed the World Health Organisation’s training resources and online courses for handling COVID-19, including desktop exercises and reporting policies, here are the links you’ll need.
What: World Health Organisation Online Training resources for handling COVID-19 outbreaks across the globe
Where to find the W.H.O. online training courses for emergency disease outbreaks around the globe:
https://www.who.int/emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019/training/online-training
COVID-19 – Preparedness and Response guidance from the World Health Organisation
This is available in English and numerous other languages.
https://openwho.org/courses/UNCT-COVID19-preparedness-and-response-EN
Be sure to visit the World Health Organisation’s pages on a daily basis and follow their recommendations.
Last updated on July 6th, 2023 at 12:29 pm
