ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Disaster Emerg. Med.
Sec. Disaster Medicine
Volume 3 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/femer.2025.1599284
This article is part of the Research TopicDisaster Medicine Education and SimulationView all 6 articles
Evaluating the WHO Leadership in Emergencies Training Programme: Participants' Perspective
Provisionally accepted
Celine Tabche1*
Zeenah Weheed Atwan1
Samar Al-Mutawakel2Noémie Andriamiseza2Maria Popovich2Ela Augustyniak1
Andrew Black3
Heini Utunen3
Salman Rawaf1- 1WHO Collaborating Centre for Public Health Education and Training Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
- 2WHO Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean, Cairo, Cairo, Egypt
- 3WHO Health Emergencies (WHE), Geneva, Switzerland
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Background: The Leadership in Emergencies (LIE) training programme, developed by WHO’s Health Emergencies (WHE) Learning and Capacity Development Unit (LCD) and Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR) Health Emergencies Department, aims to enhance emergency management and responders' technical and operational skills. WHO implemented a four-phase leadership programme to address leadership gaps in emergency response. This study evaluates its effectiveness using participant surveys and in-depth interviews.Methods: A total of 207 participants completed the survey, with 10 providing qualitative insights through interviews. The WHO Research Ethics Review Committee approved the study. It assessed the application of non-technical skills, field-level public health expertise, project management in humanitarian settings, and leadership competencies.Results: Participants frequently applied communication (35.7%), teamwork (36.7%), problem-solving (37.2%), and emotional intelligence (37.7%) skills. Field-level public health skills were frequently applied by 42.5%, and project management skills by 86.5%. Many reported career advancements, improved leadership, networking, stress management, and strategic thinking. The training was relevant, particularly simulation exercises, but challenges included balancing training with professional duties. Participants highlighted the need for structured follow-up. Future training should incorporate ongoing support mechanisms and emphasise simulation exercises and stakeholder engagement.Conclusion: The findings highlight the necessity of ongoing evaluations, practical simulations, and continuous enhancement of training programmes.
Keywords: CT: Writing (lead), data collection (lead), data analysis (equal), conceptualisation. ZA: Validation of process, Data analysis and validation, writing. SM: Conceptualisation, Data Collection, reviewing the final version. NA
Received: 24 Mar 2025; Accepted: 09 Jun 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Tabche, Atwan, Al-Mutawakel, Andriamiseza, Popovich, Augustyniak, Black, Utunen and Rawaf. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Celine Tabche, WHO Collaborating Centre for Public Health Education and Training Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom
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