FETP-Frontline enhances global health security by training local public health staff to improve surveillance quality in their jurisdictions, which can be a valuable strategy to strengthen the capacity of countries to more rapidly detect, respond to, and contain public health emergencies at the source.

Why It’s Important

FETPs increase our ability to detect and respond to threats. In a world where the next outbreak is only a plane ride away, disease detectives help countries identify and stop health threats close to the source – both those we anticipate and those we don’t expect.

FETPs address the severe worldwide shortage of skilled epidemiologists. They help countries build critical global health security capabilities by expanding their public health workforce.

FETPs build critical relationships with other countries. The ongoing success of our training programs has fostered strong, mutually beneficial relationships with ministries of health and other partners in countries around the world. By exchanging ideas and cultivating relationships, FETPs have laid the foundation — and, in many cases, opened the door — for us to establish other important health initiatives and work toward keeping the world safer from disease threats.

Overview of FETP-Frontline

FETP-Frontline is a 3-month in-service training program to strengthen epidemiologic capacity at the district level of the health system by improving the staff’s ability to detect, investigate, and respond to diseases and events of public health importance or international concern.

FETP-Frontline participants come together for two classroom workshops of 5 days each where they learn the skills needed for effective surveillance and response, including use of case definitions, disease detection and reporting, summarization of data using basic tables and graphs, case investigation, outbreak investigation and response, surveillance monitoring and evaluation, problem analysis, and data analysis and interpretation for decision-making. Between workshops, participants return to their jobs and complete field activities to practice, implement, and reinforce what they have learned. These activities include creating summary tables and charts of the surveillance data routinely collected at their agency; conducting monitoring and feedback site visits to surveillance reporting sites; performing a health problem analysis; and participating in a case or outbreak investigation.

At the third workshop (1–3 days) participants have an opportunity to present their fieldwork, and those who successfully complete the program receive a Certificate of Completion signed by MOH and CDC officials.

Program Goal

The goal of FETP-Frontline is to use training to improve the MOH’s epidemiologic capacity, particularly at the district level.