Global reach and sustained engagement of a structured digital education program in medical mycology: an observational analysis of the 2025 ESCMID-EFISG webinar series.

OBJECTIVES

Evaluate the 2025 European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases-European Fungal Infection Study Group webinar series to assess digital education as a scalable, equitable model for global professional development in medical mycology.

METHODS

This observational study analyzed Zoom metadata across 17 webinars (January-December 2025). Metrics included registration, unique viewers, peak concurrent views, attendance rate, and duration.

RESULTS

The series recorded 4631 registrations and 1372 unique participants. Median live attendance was 199 (interquartile range [IQR] 138-269), with a 39.3% attendance rate (IQR 33.7-47.5%) and peak concurrent viewership of 165 (IQR 106-229). Median session duration was 108 minutes. Webinars engaged a median of 60 countries (range 26-89) simultaneously, spanning 128 countries globally. Faculty comprised 67 unique experts from 23 countries with balanced gender representation (52.8% men, 47.2% women), of whom 16.4% (n = 11/67) were affiliated with institutions in low- and middle-income countries.

CONCLUSION

Structured digital programs achieve wide global reach and sustained engagement. Strong participation in long-form sessions supports implementing Continuing Medical Education accreditation and unrestricted on-demand access to enhance global health equity.