BACKGROUND AND IMPLEMENTATION CHALLENGES: People entering the tobacco control workforce face a steep learning curve and organizations that employ them can encounter costly onboarding expenses. A common baseline understanding about key topics and best practices in tobacco control can support enhanced efficiency and informed decision-making. Providing an introduction to these fundamentals for free can reduce the onboarding costs of organizations globally.
INTERVENTION OR RESPONSE: Since 2018, the Institute for Global Tobacco Control at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Health has offered free, online courses to establish foundational knowledge among people who are interested in or are already working in tobacco control. The “Learning from the Experts” course (accessible in eight languages) covers topics like tobacco industry tactics, tobacco control interventions, and economics.
RESULTS AND IMPACT: From 2018–2024, 3,765 participants from 72 countries successfully completed this free online course. Based on user-inputted data, 2380 people who completed the course (63%) had <1 year of experience working in tobacco control and took it as a requirement of their organization/supervisor.
During the period of January–December 2024, 975 people completed the free course, including 476 course users from low (1%, n=7) and middle-income (47%, n=469) countries. Among these users, 41% (n=197) had <1 year of experience working in tobacco control and were required by their place of work to take the course. The most common types of employers within this segment were academic/research (59%, n=116), hospital/health clinic (23%, n=46), other (11%, n=21), and non-profit organizations (7%, n=14).
CONCLUSIONS: By leveraging “Learning from the Experts” as a free training tool, organizations of all types can ensure a consistent tobacco control knowledge base among their new recruits while also controlling or reducing direct onboarding costs. Periodic course updates and diversity of online teaching methods help to ensure relevancy among these stakeholders.