The Uganda Public Health Program (Advanced FET), the way to go for FETPs: Highlights from the 9th International TEPHINET Global Scientific conference, Chiang Mai, Thailand

EpidField Epidemiology Training Program (FETP) fellows and their supervisors had the pleasure of attending the 9th International TEPHINET Global Scientific conference in Chiang Mai, Thailand from 7th to 11th August 2017. The conference theme was “Building on 20 years of Applied Epidemiology Training to Advance Disease Surveillance, Response and Sustainable Development.” There was a total of 1159 oral presentations and poster presentations from 66 countries which participated, and Uganda had the third largest number of accepted abstracts for presentation after China and Nigeria. Of the 20 abstracts from Uganda, 7 were oral and 13 were iPoster presentations.

I made an oral presentation on “Post Exposure Prophylaxis among Health Workers with Occupational Percutaneous Injuries: Kampala, Uganda, 2016.” Several pre-conference workshops were lined up for participants to attend such as: birth defects surveillance, science and art for epidemiologists to influence policy makers, field epidemiology capacity building for strengthening public health institutes, measuring timeliness of outbreak detection and reporting. I attended the field epidemiology capacity building for strengthening public health institutes (PHI) workshop which discussed if FETP curriculum prepares individuals for institutional capacity of PHI.

The Uganda PHFP_FET program was highlighted as case- study for its ability in preparing Fellows in this regard as they are hosted at priority departments in the ministry of health. Opportunities for active participation in on-going activities such as creation of health related bills, policies and programming are abundant. It was noted that other FETP programs being mainly didactic and masters awarding level were not as effective as the Uganda PHFP-FET which is post-masters and skill oriented. In addition, we discussed how FETP should evolve from focus on communicable disease and outbreak investigation to non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and other public health priorities such as maternal health.

The Uganda PHFP-FET model was again noted as already addressing this through having Fellows not only participate in outbreak investigations but also be hosted and participate in program activities at Ministry of Health departments of NCDs, reproductive health, trauma, injuries and disabilities. I used my FETP experience as an example and informed members that my host site at Ministry of Health is the Mental Health and Substance Abuse control division. I therefore had opportunity to participate in workshops to draft the tobacco and alcohol control bills, policies and strategic plans among others.

I also used Ministry of Health surveillance data to descriptively describe the burden of common mental neurological disorders which formed the basis for a policy brief on maternal depression which was a priority output for my host institution. All this while actively participating in outbreak investigations of cholera, leptospirosis and anthrax in various parts of the country epidemiology Fellow, Uganda Public Health Fellowship Program.

It was also agreed that Fellows should be known and introduced as such or residents rather than students or interns. Being referred to as students undermines Fellows and their work yet they actively participate in various public health activities. In a bid to ensure Fellows are not perceived as students, it was suggested that FETP should be known as Field Epidemiology Service (FES) instead.

We also discussed the career structure post FETP. It was noted that in some countries like Nigeria, Fellows tend- ed to revert back to their former positions before they joined the fellowship and did not remain in active public health practice which negates the purpose of FETP. It was suggested that positions be created at national and district levels for Field Epidemiologists to ensure Fellows are retained in public health practice.

Finally, we discussed funding sources for FETP where the CDC director noted that given the change of political environment, the funding future for FETP remains uncertain and advised FETP programs to target additional funds. It was agreed that Fellows should be guided by their secretariats to write and win grants for extra funds.

This narrative clearly illustrates how the TEPHINET conference provides a platform for Fellows, students of public health and other researchers to not only show case their work but also provides a think tank for constructive dialogue to tackle public health challenges across the world.