WHO Revitalizes Pacific Open Learning Health Net to Strengthen Regional Health Workforce

The World Health Organization (WHO) has announced the revitalization of the Pacific Open Learning Health Net (POLHN) — a pioneering digital learning platform that has long served as a lifeline for health professionals across the Pacific. Now integrated into the WHO Academy online learning platform, the initiative marks a renewed commitment to building the capacity of health and care workers in some of the world's most remote and geographically dispersed regions.

A New Era for Learning in the Pacific

The relaunch of POLHN represents a major step forward in advancing health workforce development, ensuring equitable access to high-quality, competency-based education. Originally launched in 2003, POLHN was designed to overcome the challenges of distance, limited internet connectivity, and scarce in-country training opportunities faced by healthcare workers in island nations.

Temporarily paused in 2022 due to funding constraints, POLHN has now been revitalized through a strategic collaboration between the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office and the WHO Academy. The renewed platform will serve as a dedicated learning hub, providing Pacific health workers with access to hundreds of courses developed by WHO and its global partners.

Learning Without Borders

The new POLHN learning space on the WHO Academy platform offers a comprehensive range of low-bandwidth-compatible and mobile-friendly courses, ensuring accessibility even in areas with limited connectivity. The content spans crucial areas such as climate change and health, noncommunicable disease management, emergency care, maternal and child health, and leadership in health systems.

Learners will also have access to global offerings from WHO's academic and technical partners, including fellowships, leadership training, and specialized professional development courses from organizations such as the Korea Foundation for International Health (KOFIH).

"I am glad that we renew a simple promise: learning will reach every health worker, and it will support care where it is delivered," said Honourable Mr Penioni Koliniwai Ravunawa, Assistant Minister of Health and Medical Services of Fiji, during the special session on the Healthy Islands vision held on Yanuca Island. "Since 2003, POLHN has helped bridge distance; now it returns with Pacific leadership at its centre. In true Pacific fashion, we will shape the canoe – our drua – as we journey together, so learning keeps pace with service and care stays close to home."

Empowering Health Workers for a Changing World

The revitalized POLHN is designed not just to deliver courses, but to foster lifelong learning, professional growth, and regional collaboration among healthcare professionals. Digital credentials and certificates will be issued upon course completion, offering formal recognition of new skills and competencies to support career advancement.

Dr Saia Ma'u Piukala, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific, underscored the significance of this development:

"Health and care workers in the Pacific face extraordinary challenges due to distance, limited resources, and workforce shortages. The pace of innovation in healthcare is rapid — it can take up to a decade for some systems to adopt new standards. By revitalizing POLHN and integrating it into the WHO Academy, we reaffirm our commitment to equity in learning and ensure every health worker can learn, grow, and serve effectively."

The WHO Academy: Building a Global Learning Ecosystem

The WHO Academy, launched to transform how the organization supports learning for health professionals worldwide, harnesses cutting-edge educational technology, AI-driven analytics, and learner feedback integration to enhance outcomes. Through its state-of-the-art digital infrastructure, it delivers personalized, flexible, and impactful learning experiences that strengthen the global health workforce.

"As part of our mission to advance universal health coverage by strengthening the health workforce, this collaboration exemplifies our efforts to provide access to relevant learning," said Dr Yukiko Nakatani, WHO Assistant Director-General for Health Systems. "We are proud to support Pacific health and care workers with a learning environment that reflects their realities. Together with our colleagues in the Western Pacific Regional Office, we are building a future where lifelong learning is a reality for all health professionals."

Supporting the Healthy Islands Vision

The relaunch of POLHN aligns with the Healthy Islands vision, a regional framework that promotes well-being, resilience, and sustainable development across the Pacific. By providing a centralized and inclusive digital learning platform, WHO is empowering Pacific island nations to strengthen their health systems, leadership capacity, and response readiness for emerging public health threats.

The revitalized POLHN also underscores WHO's commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 3 (Good Health and Well-being) and SDG 4 (Quality Education), by ensuring that health professionals in even the most remote communities have access to continuous education and modern medical knowledge.

Looking Ahead

With its migration to the WHO Academy, the new POLHN is set to become a model for equitable digital learning in low-resource and island settings. Its design ensures that every learner—from doctors and nurses to midwives and community health workers—can benefit from quality training, peer learning, and mentorship opportunities regardless of location.

For Pacific countries, this represents not only a technological upgrade but also a reaffirmation of WHO's promise to support health for all, through education for all.

Health professionals and institutions can register for courses through whoacademy.org or contact the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office's Capacity and Leadership Strengthening Unit at wprocal@who.int for more information.