THE 5th UGANDA FIELD EPIDEMIOLOGY CONFERENCE WAS A SUCCESS

Left to right; Prof. Makumbi Fredrick, Makerere University, School of Public Health, Kampala, Uganda, Dr. Yonas Tegegn, WHO Representative, Uganda, Dr. Lisa Nielson U.S CDC Director, Uganda, Dr. Patrick Tusiime, Commissioner National Dis- ease Control, Ministry of Health, Uganda, Dr. Ben Masiira, Epidemiologist AFENET, and Dr. Alex Riolexus Ario (speaking), Coordinator, PHFP, Ministry of Health Uganda

On 24th October 2019, the Uganda Public Health Fellowship Program (PHFP), Ministry of Health with support from US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) successfully held the 5th Annual Uganda National Field Epidemiology Conference. The conference held under the theme “Years of protecting Uganda and the World through Field Epidemiology and Service” was attended by delegates from Uganda and around the world. Representatives from the World Health Organisation (WHO), US CDC (both in-country and Atlanta), African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET), different Ministries (Uganda), policy makers and academia among others were in attendance.

At this annual event, Fellows share their findings from various projects they worked on over the past year. The projects presented this year were in various domains including; Zoonotic diseases, Food and water borne illnesses, Vector borne diseases, Tuberculosis, HIV/ AIDS, and Disease Surveillance. Representatives from US CDC, WHO, AFENET, MoH and Makerere University recognized Uganda Public Health Fellowship Program for the excellent efforts in ensuring that outbreaks were investigated in a timely and comprehensive manner. The PHFP was also commended for consistently adding useful scientific information to current knowledge that has informed public health actions and policies in Uganda is strained by the few skilled personnel to manage such humanitarian emergencies. Therefore, Uganda hosted the first pilot training of 19 FETP graduate epidemiologists from seven African countries in Field Epidemiology in Humanitarian Settings at Sheraton Hotel, Kampala from November 11-16, 2019. These graduates were from Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Ethiopia, South Africa, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe.

This training was organized by the African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET), US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), World Health Organization (WHO), and Training Programs in Epidemiology and Public Health Interventions Network (TEPHINET). Trainers were experts from CDC and WHO.

The training objectives were; to equip FETP graduate epidemiologists with unique skills of conducting field epidemiology in humanitarian emergencies, increase their knowledge and understanding of additional epidemiologic methods and information management services required in an emergency context and to develop a roster of epidemiologists trained in humanitarian and emergency epidemiology for future deployment through national and international mechanisms. This training involved both didactic and Simulation exercises (SIMEX).

This training had 4 participants from the Uganda Public Health Fellowship Program (PHFP) and 10 observers from PHFP, CDC Uganda, AFENET, and WHO Uganda Office. The training will eventually be rolled out to other regions of the world overtime. Uganda is blessed to have these newly acquired skills added to the health workforce. Ministry of Health, Office of the Prime Minister, and Humanitarian agencies need to embrace and reach out to these skilled personnel in the event of any humanitarian emergency for proper response. Congratulations to the team that attended diligently and for the newly acquired skills