Individuals interested in health and public health can access a range of free online resources from the World Health Organization (WHO) without needing to pay for registration or create an account.
These materials are available through OpenWHO—the organization's educational center specializing in health emergencies. Unlike many other platforms that require registration to access courses, OpenWHO currently allows anyone, regardless of location, to use the resources without logging in.
The platform was updated in 2025 to increase the accessibility of training materials and remove barriers to starting learning. The available content covers a wide range of public health topics, including infectious diseases, emergency preparedness, and response.
Some of the newer training materials concern MERS-CoV, cholera control, mpox, yellow fever, and emergency response. Furthermore, WHO has introduced a new course, Ready4Response, dedicated to activating public health emergency response.
OpenWHO is not only suitable for healthcare professionals; WHO emphasizes that the platform is open to everyone and can be used on smartphones, tablets, and computers, making it a useful tool for students wishing to expand their health knowledge outside of formal education.
The WHO Health Emergencies Programme reported that the portfolio of free, self-paced courses on OpenWHO has been expanded to over 100 health topics, with resources available in multiple languages.
It is important to note that no registration or login is required to access current OpenWHO resources. However, students should know that the platform no longer issues certificates or tracks individual learning progress. The platform's main goal now is to make health knowledge and operational training materials freely available to people who can use them in their communities and work.
Materials can be viewed online, and some are available for download depending on the content. For students interested in public health, medicine, emergency management, health communication, or simply wishing to deepen their knowledge, the platform offers the opportunity to study WHO-developed materials at no cost associated with traditional short courses.