Center for Global Health Resources Address COVID-19

Field Epidemiology Training Program– Disease Detectives First to Respond to COVID-19

A survey of 65 active Field Epidemiology Training Programs (FETP) around the world conducted between March and April 2020 showed that 85% of programs have trainees supporting their country’s COVID-19 response efforts. Since then, 100% of programs surveyed have reported graduates involved in data collection, response, or investigation of COVID-19 cases and contacts. FETP graduates and residents are involved in COVID-19 screening at borders, risk communication, and response coordination at country, regional, and district levels.

When the first cases of COVID-19 were detected in Kenya, public health officials responded quickly. The capital, Nairobi, is a major travel hub for the East, Central, and West Africa regions. It is also a connecting point for most travelers originating from China and going to other African countries. Between February and March 2020, Kenya FETP deployed 15 disease detectives to airports to screen passengers and provide recommendations based on information from health intake forms. In March, as international air traffic lessened and the first COVID-19 case was identified in Kenya, the disease detectives were redeployed to Kenya’s emergency operations center to carry out contact tracing. Kenya FETP graduates are managing the emergency operations center and rapid response teams, responding to alerts, and providing guidance and technical support to Kenyan health officials.

*The Kenya FETP program is officially named the Field Epidemiology and Lab Training Program (FELTP)

Global Health in Action: Since 1980, CDC has helped train more than 18,300 disease detectives in over 75 countries through the Field Epidemiology Training program.

National Public Health Institutes take the lead to coordinate COVID-19 response strategies

Since 2011, CDC has worked with more than 25 countries to develop National Public Health Institutes. These public health entities serve as a “home” for a country’s public health pillars of work and help streamline public health activities to enable efficient outbreak detection and response. National public health institutes (NPHI) consolidate public health functions at the national level, bring data and expertise together, and coordinate response efforts across sectors. Many NPHIs are taking the lead within their countries to coordinate public health preparedness and response activities for COVID-19.

In 2015 CDC began support to Pakistan’s National Public Health Institute in emergency response and preparedness capacity building. Now, Pakistan’s NPHI is leading the nation’s COVID-19 response. It supports testing and emergency operations; formulates case definitions and standard operating procedures; prepares health advisories and guidelines; and compiles and disseminates daily COVID-19 situation reports. Pakistan’s NPHI also directed resources to the country’s COVID-19 response by providing personal protective equipment, lab supplies, test kits, and infection prevention and control training to provincial COVID-19 labs. These efforts enhanced the country’s COVID-19 diagnostic capabilities and strengthened health care worker safety.

Global Health in Action: Between 2006 and 2019, CDC supported training for 245 advanced disease detectives and 324 front line epidemiologists in Pakistan, who have responded to 679 outbreaks.

Global Rapid Response Team Provides Surge Capacity

CDC’s national security role is crucial. The Global Disease Detection Operations Center monitors between 30 to 40 potential global health threats daily. CDC Global Rapid Response Team (GRRT) staff is ready to deploy when needed. Since its establishment in 2015, GRRT has played a crucial role in CDC’s response to global outbreaks, with over 1,440 deployments and 45,000 cumulative days of field support in more than 85 countries. The program has set a goal to double recruitment for the GRRT surge staff for the 2021-2023 cohort.

The Global Rapid Response Team was instrumental in responding to the 2018 Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). GRRT provided subject matter expertise on surveillance, contact tracing, infection prevention and control, vaccination, risk communication, and community engagement; and supported preparedness efforts in neighboring countries. From 2019 to 2020, GRRT responded to concurrent and ongoing outbreaks of Ebola, polio, measles, and COVID-19. Additionally, CDC leveraged the Global Rapid Response Team’s strong partnerships and incorporated these global health assets into the agency’s domestic response. GRRT quickly pivoted from a global focus to domestic COVID-19 response needs, deploying over 250 surge staff to support response activities in six countries, 40 U.S. jurisdictions (not including tribal nations and Washington D.C.), and four territories.

Global Health in Action: The DRC’s 10^th Ebola outbreak lasted 20 months and was the 2^nd largest Ebola outbreak in history.