The WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, together with the United Nations System Staff College (UNSSC) have made publicly available new course materials on OpenWHO.org, as part of the Leadership Programme on Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Response.

The online course features recordings of prominent public health experts delivering monthly leadership lectures, self-paced and interactive modules on related leadership topics, and learning resources, including articles, journals and multimedia material for further leadership development.

This comes as part of the first phase of a pilot programme designed and developed by the Regional Office and UNSSC to address some of the key challenges faced by public health leaders at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic. The programme, which began in June 2021 and will run until November 2021, was designed to equip leaders in the field such as WHO Representatives in the Region, and officials from ministries of health, to lead in times of uncertainty and crisis, including during epidemics and pandemics.

Topics addressed within the leadership programme and associated resources on OpenWHO.org include leadership in times of crisis, preparedness, adopting a systems approach, strategic thinking, emotional resilience and multisectoral partnership-building. While some course components remain closed to course participants in the Region, including exclusive monthly webinars and opportunities for mentoring and coaching, all other resources have now been released on the online platform to the general public, with more than 1100 participants enrolled online to date.

For more information on the programme, please visit the course webpage.