The President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, and the Director-General of the World Health Organization,Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, met at WHO headquarters in Geneva.
The two personalities signed a declaration of intent to create the WHO Academy, which will revolutionize continuous lifelong learning in the field of health. The Academy's ambition is to provide training to millions of people, using a state-of-the-art digital platform on a campus in Lyon and through branches in the six WHO Regions. The Lyon hub will feature high-tech learning environments, a world-class health emergency simulation center and collaborative spaces for co-design, research and innovation.
The Academy will bring together expertise in the fields of adult education and behavioral sciences, it will be equipped with cutting-edge pedagogical technologies such as artificial intelligence and virtual reality, it will apply WHO standards and it will have the data to deliver accredited, tailored and high-impact multilingual education to meet different needs.
The Academy will be open to a wide range of stakeholders from several sectors likely to have an influence in the health field (leaders, teachers, researchers, health workers, WHO staff members and the general public). It will be one of WHO's internal Divisions, and the Organization will ensure strong coordination and collaboration with all WHO Member States, optimizing learning support for all. The Academy will also leverage the strengths of WHO's partnerships, experts, collaborating centers and networks.
The aim is to meet the learning and development needs of WHO staff and interested stakeholders to progress towards the "triple billion" goal: to reach, by 2023, an additional billion people with universal health coverage; an additional billion people better protected in health emergencies; and an additional billion people enjoying better health and well-being.