Sharing Knowledge to Improve Health Services and Save Lives

With a Virtual Worldwide Reach, USAID's Global Health eLearning Center Brings the Latest Technical Updates to Remote Field Staff

 

Dr. Haydar Nasser in Darfur
USAID Global Health eLearning Center learner Dr. Haydar Nasser in Darfur.

Challenge:

Access to public health information enables health professionals to strengthen existing programs and develop innovations. The challenge lies in the provision of an accessible and inexpensive avenue to train and update globally dispersed field staff. Program managers and providers in resource-poor settings around the world risk being cut off from the latest news and information on public health priorities like emergency obstetric care, tuberculosis, and malaria—information that could improve service delivery and save lives.

Initiative: 

In response, USAID commissioned the INFO Project, at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health's Center for Communication Programs, in partnership with Management Sciences for Health to support the development of a Global Health eLearning Center to meet the urgent need for better technical information on public health topics among front-line field staff.

The USAID Global Health eLearning Center provides free and convenient access to 22 evidence-based, state-of-the-art online courses, with 26 more courses planned. The courses cover a wide range of topics including emergency obstetric care, tuberculosis, malaria, HIV/AIDS, and reproductive health for young people. The INFO Project manages course content and Management Sciences for Health (MSH) designed and continues to enhance the eLearning platform. USAID and its partner agencies provide subject matter expertise and technical review for the courses.

These virtual, self-paced tutorials deliver authoritative learning materials from experts directly to field staff. Of learners, 33% log in from Africa and over 40% from Asia or the Near East. The courses combine program principles, best practices, and case studies with the goal of helping learners design practical and cost-effective programs locally. Each course can be completed in one to two hours and can be downloaded and printed for the convenience of users with limited Internet connectivity.

Results:

Since the USAID Global Health eLearning Center’s launch in September 2005, the number of online learners has grown rapidly, more than doubling from about 3,600 in the first year to 9,500 in the second. Currently more than 18,000 learners are registered on the site. Already, there is evidence that the courses are improving health services.

"Early this year, [a patient] died from postpartum bleeding in our centre," a clinical health care worker in Nigeria wrote recently. "But now, with the knowledge acquired from the [Preventing Postpartum Hemorrhage] course, all my staff have been equipped with basic preventive methods."
 
"Today no other patient [will] develop postpartum hemorrhage again," he concluded.

 Learning at the USAID Global Health eLearning Center

"The courses have refreshed and enhanced my technical knowledge, and provided me with background information to train my team," said Dr. Haydar Nasser, the head of El Fasher UNICEF Zonal Office in Darfur, Sudan. Having spent two years coordinating Darfur region emergency and recovery health services for about four million conflict-affected individuals, Dr. Nasser now supervises the zone's health, nutrition, water, and sanitation as well as HIV education services. He has completed all 22 courses at the Global Health eLearning Center. "I've applied almost all the courses to my work," said Dr. Nasser.

“I have continuously applied the knowledge gained from the courses to improve the quality of my work," agreed Dr. Qais Mahmood Sikandar, Chief Technical Advisor at UNFPA's country office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Dr. Sikandar, who also completed all 22 courses, is a technical and programmatic expert who oversees the Health Extension and Education Centre, as well as reproductive, maternal, and child health-related activities within the Family Health Department of the Federal Ministry of Health. Dr. Sikander said he has implemented the knowledge gained from the courses in his program activities including reproductive health, family planning, and HIV/AIDS as well as monitoring and evaluation.
 
Given the time-crunched work days many field staff face, some learners access the courses from home.
 
"Using all my leisure time, I completed all the available courses in two months’ time," said Dr. Sikandar, adding that he typically logs in from home. About the courses, he said, "they have refreshed and enhanced my technical knowledge, helped me to improve our planning, and provided me with the required background information to train my team." Dr. Nasser, in Darfur, also accesses the courses from home.
 
"I have recommended the website to all interested friends and colleagues,” said Dr. Nasser. His one suggestion for improving the site? "Post more courses."
 
Get information on available courses, then login to take any of the 22 courses at no cost at the USAID Global Health eLearning Center.

Knowledge for Health Project, The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Center for Communication Programs (CCP), Family Health International(FHI), Management Sciences for Health (MSH), With IT Support from Google.

Disclaimer: The information provided on this web site is not official U.S. Government information and does not represent the views or positions of the U.S. Agency for International Development, the U.S. Government or The Johns Hopkins University.