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Daddi Jima, Getnet Mitike, Zegeye Hailemariam, Alemayehu Bekele, Adamu Addissie, Peter Wasswa, Olivia Namusisi, Sheba Nakacubo Gitta, Monica Musenero, David Mukanga. The Ethiopian Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program: strengthening public health systems and building human resource capacity. Pan Afr Med J. 2011;10(Supp 1):5 Key words: Ethiopia, Public health training, field epidemiology training program Permanent link: http://www.panafrican-med-journal.com/content/series/10/1/5/full Received: 31/08/2011 - Accepted: 07/12/2011 - Published: 14/12/2011 This article is published as part of the supplement "Field Epidemiology in Africa" Supplement sponsored by PAMJ and The African Field Epidemiology Network © Daddi Jima et al. The Pan African Medical Journal - ISSN 1937-8688. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. |
The Ethiopian Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program: strengthening public health systems and building human resource capacity
Daddi Jima1, Getnet Mitike1, Zegeye Hailemariam1, Alemayehu Bekele1, Adamu Addissie1, Peter Wasswa2,&, Olivia Namusisi2, Sheba Nakacubo Gitta2, Monica Musenero2, David Mukanga2
1Ethiopian Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program, P.O.Box 12953, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 2African Field Epidemiology Network, P. O. Box 12874, Kampala, Uganda
&Corresponding author
Peter Wasswa, Scientific Writer, African Field Epidemiology Network, Kampala, Uganda
The Ethiopian Field Epidemiology and Laboratory Training Program (EFELTP) is a comprehensive two-year competency-based training and service program designed to build sustainable public health expertise and capacity. Established in 2009, the program is a partnership between the Ethiopian Federal Ministry of Health, the Ethiopian Health and Nutrition Research Institute, Addis Ababa University School of Public Health, the Ethiopian Public Health Association and the US Centers of Disease Control and Prevention,. Residents of the program spend about 25% of their time undergoing didactic training and the 75% in the field working at program field bases established with the MOH and Regional Health Bureaus investigating disease outbreaks, improving disease surveillance, responding to public health emergencies, using health data to make recommendations and undertaking other field Epidemiology related activities on setting health policy. Residents from the first 2 cohorts of the program have conducted more than 42 outbreaks investigations, 27analyses of surveillance data, evaluations of 11 surveillance systems, had28oral and poster presentation abstracts accepted at 10 scientific conferences and submitted 8 manuscripts of which 2are already published. The EFELTP has provided valuable opportunities to improve epidemiology and laboratory capacity building in Ethiopia. While the program is relatively young, positive and significant impacts are assisting the country better detect and respond to epidemics and address diseases of major public health significance.