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Call for Volunteers to Share Experiences for New Contact Tracing eLearning Modules
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 With support from TEPHINET and in collaboration with the Canadian Field Epidemiology Program, Australia's Field Epidemiology Training Program is developing eLearning modules on contact tracing. The modules will address the social determinants of contact tracing and the mental health and well-being of contact tracers.
The creators of these modules would like to include short video or audio recordings of volunteers sharing their experiences of undertaking contact tracing in the field. The team is also seeking a volunteer interviewee who has participated in the Ebola response in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and who could speak about the importance of community engagement, well-being, and culture in contact tracing.
If you are interested in these volunteer opportunities, please contact Tambri Housen (tambri.housen@anu.edu.au) and Renee Christensen (rchristensen@who.int) for more information and guidance on creating the recordings. |
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Field Notes from FETPs Fighting COVID-19: June 2020
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Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP) and Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program (FELTP) trainees and graduates continue to provide vital support to COVID-19 response activities at the national and sub-national levels. Read examples of their contributions below.
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Photo courtesy of FETP Vietnam
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Vietnam Field Epidemiology Training Program
Vietnam was considered highly vulnerable to COVID-19 due to its long land border with China, large population, and other factors; yet, the country has reported only 335 cases and no deaths as of June 17, 2020. Vietnam's strategy for fighting the disease has included strict screening at points of entry, aggressive contact tracing and testing, as well as a "whole-of-society" approach that engages multi-sectoral stakeholders in the response.
Thirty-six graduates of the advanced-level FETP, six two-year fellows, and approximately 600 graduates of the FETP short course have joined the response by conducting health screenings and contact tracing, supporting quarantine activities, conducting surveillance and data analysis, and developing and revising national guidelines for COVID-19 surveillance, control, and prevention, among other activities. In the spring, FETP fellows deployed to northern Vietnam to investigate 51 cases and approximately 1,000 contacts in two major outbreaks.
The FETP also has developed various tools for data collection and analysis. For example, in response to a need to visualize social network data, the FETP developed Dandelion, a social network-mapping application using open source programming.
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Photo courtesy of FETP Zimbabwe
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Zimbabwe Field Epidemiology Training Program (ZimFETP)
Prior to Zimbabwe's first case of COVID-19, ZimFETP developed and distributed informational materials for the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MOHCC), including 20,000 flyers, 500 posters, and items bearing COVID-19 prevention messages, such as t-shirts and pens. Nearly 50 residents participated in a door-to-door awareness campaign that reached more than 1,800 households. The program also conducted a knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) study among residents of Harare, Zimbabwe's capital.
When the country went under lockdown, FETP residents conducting data collection in the field were initially unable to move freely to conduct their studies. As a solution, residents were provided with MOHCC identification cards enabling them to move about as essential workers.
ZimFETP graduates have taken on several leadership roles in the COVID-19 response. At the MOHCC head office, the acting permanent secretary of health is an FETP graduate, as are two out of three chief directors, 10 directors and deputy directors, and four Health Studies Office directors and coordinators who are part of the National COVID-19 Task Force. At the provincial level, eight of out 10 provincial medical directors are ZimFETP graduates, and they oversee all COVID-19 activities in their provinces. Eight out of 10 provincial epidemiology and disease control officers are graduates and oversee all infectious disease surveillance activities in their provinces. At the city health directorate level, five directors in Harare, Bulawayo, Gweru, Kadoma, and Kwekwe are ZimFETP graduates; several more graduates work as epidemiologists and program managers. In addition, nine graduates are working as contractors with Africa CDC to assist in COVID-19 response.
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Photo courtesy of MediPIET
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Mediterranean and Black Sea Field Epidemiology Training Program Network (MediPIET)
MediPIET is an advanced-level regional FETP serving countries in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa that surround the Mediterranean and Black Seas. The program has graduated 22 fellows from its first two cohorts and is now training 15 fellows in its third.
MediPIET fellows and graduates are serving as members of preparedness and response committees across the region. They are also involved in preparing communications materials (including information kits for journalists); conducting surveillance activities (including implementing real-time integrated syndromic surveillance of acute lower respiratory diseases using an e-health system); screening at points of entry; preparing laboratory capacity to manage large-scale testing for COVID-19, and developing guidelines for infection prevention and control and self-care of patients with mild symptoms.
Visit the MediPIET website to access the program's COVID-19 Resource Center as well as its COVID-19 Webinar series featuring experts on a variety of topics.
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Photo courtesy of Ethiopia FELTP
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Ethiopia Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program
As of May 2020, 138 residents and 81 graduates of the Ethiopia FELTP were involved in COVID-19 response at national and regional public health emergency operations centers (PHEOCs) and Africa CDC.
Graduates are leading the Incident Management System (IMS) and have taken on the roles of Deputy Incident Manager, Planning Section Chief, Points of Entry Screening Section Chief, and Quarantine Section Chief. Residents and graduates are involved in contact tracing, rapid response teams, screening at points of entry, call centers, emergency preparedness and response planning, protocol development, quarantine management and follow-up, risk communication and community engagement activities, and situation reporting.
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Photo courtesy of Malaysia EIP
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Malaysia Epidemic Intelligence Program (EIP)
Ninety percent of the EIP's basic- and intermediate-level trainees and graduates (63 individuals) are involved in COVID-19 response. Nearly 75 percent are involved in planning, coordination and monitoring at the national, state, and district levels. Trainees and graduates are involved in epidemiologic surveillance and data management, rapid response teams and case investigations, infection prevention and control, point of entry management, sampling, and laboratory testing. EIP graduates have participated in evacuation missions for repatriated Malaysians.
Nearly 23 percent of the intermediate trainees and graduates are participating in community engagement activities and nearly 41 percent in risk communication activities, such as appearances in local media, to raise awareness of COVID-19.
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Caribbean Regional Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program (CR-FELTP)
CR-FELTP has 96 Frontline graduates working in four countries, 130 Level I graduates working in 13 countries, and 10 Level II graduates working in six countries. These graduates have been busy with COVID-19 contact tracing, sample collection and testing, quarantine coordination and follow-up, port health activities for the region's many ports, public awareness activities, training of healthcare workers, and data management and analysis. They also serve on the COVID-19 Task Force and Incident Management Teams.
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Voices from the Field:
Dr. Sara Saeed (Pakistan)
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Sara Saeed takes the temperature of airport passengers. (Photo courtesy of Sara Saeed)
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Dr. Sara Saeed is a fellow of the 12th cohort of the Pakistan FELTP. She is presently working as an Assistant Airport Health Officer at Islamabad International Airport.
"It was January 22, 2020 when I came to know about an outbreak of pneumonia-like illness in Wuhan, China through media; probably a new virus. The same day, my team and I started thermal screening of passengers arriving from China and checked each and every passenger for fever. On February 4, I received a call from the air traffic control tower notifying me that a flight was landing from China carrying a passenger with fever. I checked the passenger on board and sent him to the hospital with all precautions. He was the first suspected case at Islamabad Airport.
Since then, I have been doing surveillance, thermal screening, contact tracing and health education for passengers in the form of brochures, informational materials, and personal briefings. Working at the airport is a bit different from other healthcare setups. Initially, screening was started only for those arriving from China. Later on, by the end of February when we had the first confirmed case in Pakistan, strict thermal screening also started for those arriving from Iran, Italy, and Afghanistan. Within a few weeks, as it turned into a pandemic, screening became mandatory for every international passenger.
Since then, my team and I have screened more than 390,000 passengers at Islamabad Airport arriving from different countries. In case any person is found symptomatic, he or she is separated from the rest of the passengers to an isolation area at the airport, where they are interviewed, physically examined, and then shifted to designated hospitals through a separate gate with minimum possible interaction with other people.
I experienced a lot of problems due to meager human resources and the irrational and uncooperative behavior of some passengers due to their fear of quarantine. Many times, suspected cases misbehaved and tried to escape en route to the hospital but were caught by law enforcing agencies. On the other hand, I also encountered willing, compliant, and well-informed people who followed our standard operating procedures voluntarily. During this pandemic, non-availability of a well-equipped and spacious quarantine facility at Islamabad International Airport was badly felt.
After COVID-19 community spread was detected, we also began thermal screening of domestic passengers. I conducted contact tracing and sampling of suspected crew members, including cargo staff. Being an airport health officer, I am looking after all agencies, airlines, and cargo, along with passengers. All agencies and airlines were educated regarding personal protection and disinfection protocols, and random checks are also performed."
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Celebrating Four Decades of FETP
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2020 is the 40th anniversary of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) supporting the establishment of Thailand''s Field Epidemiology Training Program, the first FETP created outside of North America. To commemorate this milestone, CDC and partners will share stories and information about the work of FETP around the world throughout 2020.
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 The Challenges of Fighting COVID-19 in Developing Countries: TEPHINET Director Dr. Carl Reddy shares some of the challenges developing countries face when it comes to responding to the pandemic and discusses the COVID-19 outlook for the rest of the world in the latest episode of the podcast, "Did You Wash Your Hands," produced by local Atlanta radio station WABE. | LISTEN NOW
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 Meet the Vet Detectives Searching for the Next COVID-19: With limited funding and manpower, animal disease detectives roam the world studying zoonotic diseases and hunting for those likely to make the jump to humans. Veterinary epidemiology has its own challenges, and these health heroes are making do with the resources they have. | READ MORE
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Text Box
Call for Letters of Intent: 2020-2021 TEPHINET Non-communicable Disease Small Grants Program
Seeking Input from Our Community on Scientific Publishing
Seeing His Hometown "With a Different Eye": An Interview With Biagio Pedalino, a Public Health Epidemiologist Advising Local Officials in Italy
From November 10-12, 2020, the Taiwan Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP), in partnership with the South Asia Field Epidemiology and Technology Network (SAFETYNET), will host the Online Bi-Regional FETP Conference on COVID-19 featuring presentations from countries in the Southeast Asia and Western Pacific regions highlighting COVID-19 response activities and related studies of FETP trainees and recent graduates. 
The Workforce and Institute Development Branch (WIDB) of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and TEPHINET are excited to announce the availability of an all-new version 2.0 
The leading European Scientific Conference on Applied Infectious Disease Epidemiology will take place online from November 24-27, 2020. Each year, professionals across all fields related to applied epidemiology in the European Union (and globally) participate in this event. ESCAIDE is also a key venue for European FETP fellows and alumni to present their work. 
Call for Abstracts: Southeast Asia and Western Pacific Bi-regional FETP COVID-19 Online Scientific Conference
Announcing the Recipients of the TEPHINET COVID-19 Emergency Capacity Building Grants for FETPs
New eLearning Series on Contact Tracing Developed by Australian and Canadian FETPs
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