Central America Field Epidemiology Training Program (CA FETP): a pathway to sustainable public health capacity developme
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BioMed Central
Open Access
Review
Central America Field Epidemiology Training Program (CA FETP): a pathway to sustainable public health capacity development Augusto López and Victor M Cáceres* Address: Division of Global Public Health Capacity Development, Coordinating Office for Global Health, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1600 Clifton Road MS E-93, Atlanta, GA 30333, USA Email: Augusto López - [email protected]; Victor M Cáceres* - [email protected] * Corresponding author
Published: 16 December 2008 Human Resources for Health 2008, 6:27
doi:10.1186/1478-4491-6-27
Received: 25 January 2008 Accepted: 16 December 2008
This article is available from: http://www.human-resources-health.com/content/6/1/27 © 2008 López and Cáceres; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. 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.
Abstract The Central America Field Epidemiology Training Program (CA FETP) is a public health capacitybuilding training programme aimed at developing high-caliber field epidemiologists at various levels of the public health system. It began in 2000 as part of the effort to rebuild public health infrastructure in six Central American and Caribbean countries following the devastation of Hurricanes Mitch and Georges in late 1998. Since then, the CA FETP has evolved from one regional training programme managed by CDC to several national FETPs with each country assuming ownership of its domestic programme. The curriculum is competency-based, and is divided into a three-tiered training pyramid that corresponds to the needs at the local, district and central levels of the health system. Trainees at each tier spend about 20% of their time in the classroom and 80% in the field implementing what they have learned while being mentored by graduates of the programme. FETP trainees have responded to multiple natural disasters and conducted hundreds of investigations including surveillance evaluations, outbreak responses and planned studies. Also graduates of the CA FETP are assuming influential positions in their respective ministries. As countries meet the challenge of institutionalizing their programmes, the CA FETP concept will increasingly be recognized as a model for sustainable public health capacity development.
Review In late 1998 two hurricanes, Mitch and Georges, struck widespread areas of Central America (CA) and the Caribbean region, killing thousands of persons and causing extensive damage to public infrastructure. The health impact of this natural disaster underscored the lack of preparedness of governments in the region to react to a major public health emergency. Responding to this public health crisis, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in collaboration with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the American Association
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