The World Health Organization WHO Academy in Lyon, France, officially opened its doors yesterday with a grand inauguration ceremony. The event was graced by French President Emmanuel Macron, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and a distinguished assembly of health ministers, international representatives, donors, and local partners from France.
The WHO Academy is a groundbreaking initiative aimed at revolutionizing the global health workforce through the most ambitious lifelong training program ever designed in public health. Its mission is to equip health professionals, policymakers, and WHO’s workforce with critical skills, up-to-date knowledge, and advanced competencies. Training will be offered both on-site in Lyon and globally through its cutting-edge online platform, ensuring wide-reaching accessibility.
WHO Academy creation stems from a partnership with leading academic and research institutions worldwide.
It seeks to address pressing challenges, such as the global shortage of health and care workers—projected to reach 10 million by 2030—and the widening gap in access to the latest research and innovations. The majority of this workforce deficit will affect low- and middle-income countries, particularly in Africa. The Academy’s integration of advanced technologies, including artificial intelligence, aims to strengthen health systems and improve efficiency in health care delivery.
Launched seven years ago, this visionary project was made possible by the generous support of the French government, the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, Lyon City and Métropole, and other global collaborators. Its new state-of-the-art campus spans 11,000 square meters and features an impressive array of facilities: 22 training rooms, two distance-learning rooms, a simulation center, an emergency operations center, a TV recording studio, a modern auditorium, and a library. The Academy’s online platform further democratizes access to health education by offering free, high-quality courses on priority health topics to professionals worldwide, regardless of their location.
President Emmanuel Macron emphasized the global significance of the Academy during his speech at the ceremony. “Today we can be proud to open in the city of Lyon the doors of a new global institution, which will bring the best in terms of health training and innovation to the world. The latest tech and AI developments will be very powerful to make health care more accessible everywhere. This investment will benefit us all, because better trained health workers are absolutely critical to make our world safer, including to prevent and respond to future pandemics. I trust this strong partnership with WHO will demonstrate our trust in its capacity to guide our health policies across the globe and to coordinate our actions, to be always more efficient to serve our people on the ground.”
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus underscored the Academy’s transformative potential: “WHO is known for producing world-class technical products – guidelines, norms, and standards – but translating these into real-world action has been hindered by a lack of institutionalized training. Often, our technical products sit unused on shelves or unread in inboxes. The WHO Academy will be game-changing, a first-of-its-kind global health learning center that will equip health and care workers, policymakers, and our own global workforce with the competencies and skills they need to transform health systems and deliver health for all.”
The global shortage of health-care workers poses one of the greatest challenges to achieving universal health coverage. Millions of people worldwide lack access to essential services, including immunizations, maternal care, and treatment for communicable diseases. The WHO Academy aims to address this issue by training thousands of health professionals annually. By 2028, the Academy plans to train 3 million health-care workers, including nurses, clinicians, and midwives, along with 900 senior decision-makers and 13,000 public health managers. From 2025 to 2028, the Academy will produce 50 to 80 new courses annually, amounting to approximately 260 courses by 2028.
The WHO Academy represents a bold step toward closing the global health workforce gap. By providing high-quality, accessible education and training to health professionals worldwide, the Academy will strengthen health systems, improve service delivery, and advance health equity. This initiative is poised to play a pivotal role in addressing critical health challenges and shaping a healthier, more equitable future for all.
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