Ebola and Marburg viruses rank among the most dangerous pathogens monitored by global health authorities, capable of triggering high-mortality outbreaks that overwhelm local health systems with little warning. Strengthening the capacity of frontline health workers and policymakers to respond effectively has long been identified as a critical gap in outbreak preparedness. To address that need, the World Health Organization (WHO) launched FiloTREAT on March 26, 2025 — a free, self-paced online training course focused on the clinical management and operational response to filovirus disease outbreaks.
The course, developed by WHO’s Emergency Programme Clinical Management and Operations team under the leadership of Dr. Janet V. Diaz, is available in English and French and requires no prerequisite knowledge to enroll. It is designed for health workers, healthcare managers, and other professionals who may be called upon to support a filovirus outbreak response.
FiloTREAT spans approximately 16 hours of instruction organized across modules covering the history of filovirus outbreaks, transmission dynamics, pathophysiology, infection prevention and control principles, triage and patient assessment, treatment center operations, staff organization, and the management of clinical complications. The course also addresses therapeutics and continuity of care for infected patients — areas where gaps in knowledge have historically contributed to preventable deaths and transmission events among healthcare workers.
The development of FiloTREAT carries direct implications for health security at both national and international levels. Filovirus outbreaks, while geographically concentrated in Central and West Africa in recent decades, carry significant potential for cross-border spread and can rapidly exhaust the response capacity of affected countries. Standardized training of the kind FiloTREAT provides supports the goals of the International Health Regulations by helping countries build baseline competencies before an outbreak occurs, rather than in the midst of one. Accessible, multilingual, and free of charge, the course lowers a practical barrier that has often limited preparedness investment in low-resource settings.
The course was designed in partnership with Artifex Creative Webnet Ltd and incorporates contributions from multiple subject matter experts and organizations. Enrollment is open through WHO’s online learning platform.
Sources and Further Reading:
WHO Launches Online Training to Strengthen Filovirus Outbreak Response – World Health Organization