Field Epidemiology Training Programs Battle Outbreaks for a Healthier World

In December of 2019, the first cases Covid-19 were discovered in China. Within two months, there were nearly 10,000 confirmed cases across multiple nations, and the disease was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

The stark reality of our now globalized society is that deadly diseases can spread across the entire planet in a matter of weeks. So when our entire world is at war with an invisible enemy, who fights the disease? Whom do we rely upon to understand, control, and stop the spread of a disease that knows no borders?

This is why TEPHINET exists. As a program of The Task Force for Global Health, TEPHINET is a global network of Field Epidemiology Training Programs, designed to train and mobilize the public health workforce across the world, to fight the outbreak of diseases like Covid-19.

This network consists of more than 70 programs working across more than 100 countries. These programs are designed to train public health workers, doctors, nurses, veterinarians, and other professionals in field epidemiology and other skills, to detect and respond to disease outbreaks and other public health emergencies.

Every program takes a "learning by doing" approach, where the majority of the training takes place in the field, and enrollees get direct experience providing essential health services to their countries.

In an event like Covid-19, FETPs engage in a series of actions before, during, and after and outbreak, based on operational guidelines from the World Health Organization. Before an outbreak, these actions include developing case definitions to identify suspected and confirmed cases of a disease, establishing surveillance systems for detecting these cases, and defining roles of the partners involved in the outbreak response. They also undertake the critical process of educating communities and health workers.

During the outbreak, previous work continues to be refined, and FETPs conduct surveillance and case investigations, participate on Rapid Response Teams, and undertake risk communications activities.
After an outbreak, FETPs continue surveillance of cases, education and training, and refining guidelines and protocols based on learnings during the outbreak.

The speed, scale, and effectiveness of these actions before, during, and after an outbreak like Covid-19 can mitigate the severity of that outbreak.
Because of this, our mission at TEPHINET is to support field epidemiology training programs to connect epidemiologists better, faster, and with quality across the globe, to protect the health and safety of our world.