More than 2,000 health workers around the world have enrolled in Alive & Thrive’s e-learning course, “Investing in Child Nutrition,” with enrollments of five or more from people in more than 100 countries. The overwhelming majority of those enrolling came from low- and middle-income countries. Compared to 2019 when it was launched, overall enrollments increased by 53% in 2020, from 998 to 1,531 in English; French enrollment reached 211.

Though users report a high degree of satisfaction (E-learning course provides global access to valuable nutrition information), only 73 have fully completed the course. A&T is surveying users to gain further insight into the issue, which could be due to the course’s length (completing it requires several hours), its difficulty, and/or internet accessibility.

In July, Alive & Thrive updated the course with new COVID-19 IYCF guidance issued by WHO. The course’s popularity has drawn interest from UNICEF, which has proposed incorporating the course into its Agora global learning platform.

Partners in other countries have also inquired about integrating aspects of the course into e-learning initiatives for health workers. This interest reflects the high quality of the course, which was developed in collaboration with UNICEF, a global network of IYCF experts, e-learning specialists, and established IYCF media content creators.

The free course is based on WHO’s IYCF training modules, adapting the face-to-face course content into an immersive, interactive e-learning format, and supplementing technical content with a wide range of multimedia material, including expert interviews, instructional videos, and digital animation. It also offers substantial content focusing on counselling skills.