Nossal Institute for Global Health launches free global COVID-19 course on FutureLearn

@UniMelb’s Nossal Institute for Global Health launches free @FutureLearn COVID-19 online course for low, middle and high income countries 

The Nossal Institute for Global Health – part of the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health (MSPGH) at the University of Melbourne – is announcing the launch of its ‘COVID-19: Global Health Perspectives’ course available on FutureLearn.com, the leading social learning platform. 

The free, 4-week long course is currently open for enrolment, with learning commencing on Monday 3rd August 2020. 

Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has surged in regions such as the Middle East, North and South America, Africa, and South Asia, with global cases now reaching a rate of over 210,000 a day according to recent statistics.

Through a critical synthesis of the evidence, and global health analysis of real world case studies, ‘COVID-19: Global Health Perspectives’ aims to give learners an academic and applied understanding of how COVID-19 and responses to the pandemic have impacted on different countries and populations across varying levels of economic development, and the key lessons learnt that can be applied to pandemic response and preparedness moving forward. 

The course is primarily designed for health planners, policy makers, program managers and those with an interest or applied careers in global health, who seek to understand how to best manage the impacts of COVID-19 and prepare for future pandemics. It will also be of keen interest to students and educators in the fields of global health, health systems strengthening and disaster preparedness and response.

Nancy Baxter, Head of the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health said:

“The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted more than ever before how we need to be thinking and acting as a global community, and how we need to be building health system capacities across the globe to deal with emerging infectious diseases in ways that are both equitable and inclusive. We are delighted to be engaging with a global community of learners through this course, and to be contributing to building capacities for better understandings of and responses to the current pandemic, as well for future pandemic preparedness.”

Barbara McPake, Director of the Nossal Institute for Global Health said:

“We’re really excited to engage with a new group of learners on FutureLearn over global perspectives on the current pandemic. So much that we hear about is highly localised and so many opportunities to learn from global experience are being missed. This is a fantastic opportunity for us to share experience across national and regional borders.”

Helen Fuller, Global Healthcare Lead at FutureLearn said:

“At FutureLearn we’ve been working with our global network of expert healthcare partners to quickly develop trusted and accessible learning resources as the pandemic continues to develop. We are proud to partner with the Nossal Institute for Global Health, recognised leaders in their space, to deliver such a vital course that we hope will help front line responders within countries that have just recently begun experiencing the impacts of COVID-19.”