Participatory development of training videos for respiratory equipment

During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, medical oxygen therapy was urgently needed for patients with hypoxaemia. Many low- and middle-income countries lacked the medical devices for oxygen therapy and experience in their use.

In addition to providing medical devices for oxygen therapy for countries in need, the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners developed training videos to help local health workers select, use and maintain this equipment. Diverse health professionals, including engineers and clinicians from resource-constrained countries, collaborated in developing draft videos in their local settings. A production team refined these drafts and delivered the training videos through the platform OpenWHO.

OpenWHO is WHO's free open-access platform providing courses for health workers and others. The courses, based on WHO's scientific and operational guidance, can be easily adapted, contextualized and translated.

The production team refined the drafts into 32 training videos. More than 17 505 health workers participated in the OpenWHO course on COVID-19 respiratory equipment between 28 February 2022 and 30 November 2023. Participants were from 189 countries and 38% (6027/16 047) were from low- and lower-middle-income countries.

Involving volunteer biomedical engineers and clinicians from low- and middle-income countries helped provide an appropriate training resource. WHO should continue to develop such training tools and offer them through OpenWHO, especially for emergencies.