Design, uptake, and adaptation of a curated global infant and young child feeding digital health education course to capacitate frontline health workers

Abstract Background Health workers have critical roles in delivering quality infant and young child feeding (IYCF) services, which include skilled counseling for breastfeeding and complementary feeding. However, health workers’ access to quality IYCF training has been limited. Although IYCF training opportunities are available, most are delivered in conventional learning set-ups, and accessing these trainings can be challenging for many health workers due to restrictions in schedules, inaccessibility of training locations, and inadequate training language proficiency. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the advantages of utilizing e-learning platforms for health worker training have been highlighted, including time, location, and schedule flexibility, increased access for learners, the opportunity for standardized course delivery, and completion monitoring. Methods Recognizing a gap in accessible online guidance and support for IYCF capacity strengthening for health workers, Alive & Thrive and its partners curated available training materials from authoritative health organizations into a practical, competency-based, and self-paced e-learning course. Using the Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation (ADDIE) model for course development, and with support from a digital solutions service provider and a technical steering committee composed of international experts, available training materials were translated into an e-learning format to create a self-paced course for IYCF. The final product is packaged as the “IYCF E-learning Course: Investing in Child Nutrition” and is available in Arabic, English, and French. A country adaptation of the IYCF e-learning course was also made in Jordan in 2023, through which the course was translated into Arabic. Results From its launch in June 2019 to January 2021, about 2,000 enrollees from 106 countries accessed the Arabic, English, and French versions of the course package. Positive feedback from users was received on the inclusive nature of the course content and imagery, as well as the breadth of resources available. Meanwhile, the adapted version for Jordan recorded 1,123 enrollees from 33 countries as of June 2024. The course is currently hosted on the UNICEF Agora platform. Conclusions The development and experience monitoring the uptake of the IYCF E-learning Course has demonstrated the utility of an extensive e-learning course package that can be further adapted to fit specific country-level or local contexts.