The USAID Global Health eLearning (GHeL) Center has reached a significant milestone in its six-year history: Over 120,000 course-completion certificates have been awarded. Launched in 2005, the GHeL Center, developed by MSH and managed by Knowledge for Health (K4Health), currently offers 50 self-paced online courses on a variety of technical and programmatic health topics (from Antenatal Care to Youth Reproductive Health). The 50 courses are grouped into nine certificate programs, including Family Planning and Reproductive Health, HIV/AIDS, Child Survival, Gender and Health, Health Systems, Maternal Health, and Neonatal Health. The GHeL platform also offers United States Presidents’ Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) eLearning courses, which focus on strengthening in-country strategic information capacity.   

GHeL courses are intended primarily for USAID mission staff and staff at Cooperating Agencies (CAs—other organizations that work closely with USAID) around the world. The GHeL platform is accessible using a low-bandwidth Internet connection.

To date, the platform has amassed nearly 90,000 registered learners who represent a variety of organizations including in-country governments, universities, Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), and multilateral organizations. In follow-up surveys, users expressed that the courses are easy to use and provide skills and knowledge needed to improve job performance. A public health official from Malawi reported that he or he has used the course material extensively during supervisory visits and review meetings, and has recommended the courses to middle managers in the Ministry of Health. Another user from Pakistan highlighted GHeL’s great value by implementing GHeL course materials into his lectures at the local university.

Currently, an in-depth evaluation of the platform is underway and will allow the GHeL team to make necessary improvements to deliver new material. The recent launch of the Nutrition eLearning course serves as evidence of GHeL’s commitment to providing innovative, high-quality courses. Just launched on October 27, 2011, the Nutrition course was developed to address the global issues of hunger and undernutrition. According to the course’s author, the Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance 2 Project (FANTA 2), research shows that inadequate maternal and child nutrition is the underlying cause of 3.5 million deaths every year and 35 percent of the disease burden for children under 5 years of age.  However, universal coverage of proven nutrition-related interventions could reduce overall mortality of children under 3 by 25 percent.

The Nutrition course covers the basic concepts of good nutrition and common nutritional deficiencies, the magnitude of malnutrition in different populations, the causes of undernutrition in vulnerable groups, and key indicators and ways of measuring them. It also outlines the major population-based interventions to improve nutritional status. One-time registration at www.globalhealthlearning.org gives you free access to this and 49 other courses that cover a variety of global health topics.

Wendasha Jenkins is a Communications Coordinator at Knowledge for Health working on the Global Health eLearning Center and IBP Initiative.