POLHN

Pacific Open Learning Health Net

Type of site	Public Online education
Available in	English
Owner	Pacific Ministries of Health
Created by	World Health Organisation
Slogan(s)	Created by health professional for health professionals
Website	polhn.org
Commercial	No
Registration	Required
Users	more than 20,000 (March 2016)
Launched	2003
Current status	Active
Content license	Copyright of POLHN

Pacific Open Learning Health Net (POLHN) /ˈpɒlhən/ (pol-uh n) is a non-profit established in 2003, focused on distance education for health professionals working in Pacific. Since 2004, it has provided free online courses for continuing professional development in a wide range of disciplines. These include self-directed, blended learning, instructor-led and hybrid courses. The platform runs on free and open-source software learning management system. POLHN works with several universities institutions and Ministries of Health to develop online health related courses guided by WHO publications and accepted standard operating procedure. Since 2013 the platform looks more like a typical massive open online course (MOOC) platform.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and Pacific Ministers of Health established the POLHN in 2003 through funding provided by the Government of Japan. POLHN was established to address a need of health professionals in the Pacific to access continued professional development (CPD) opportunities and up-to-date health information. POLHN fulfills these needs through an e-learning network across fourteen Pacific Island Countries, areas and territories.