|
|
|
|
|
|
Director's Message
Dear Colleagues,
 It is a great honor to write to you amidst an exciting period for TEPHINET with updates on recent and upcoming activities and events.
TEPHINET concludes 2015 with the highest amount of projects and funding in its history. We are working hard to restructure our Secretariat in Atlanta by incorporating new staff, diversifying our work areas, and increasing coordination with our partners and programs.
In 2015, we celebrated our 8th Global Conference in Mexico, a successful platform for knowledge sharing among programs and more than 400 participants from more than 50 countries. We also launched our accreditation process with FETPs in the U.K. and Canada. In addition, the TEPHINET Secretariat and FETP programs played an active role in the international Ebola response in Africa as part of the global community of public health workers. We remain active in support of the efforts to eradicate polio in Pakistan, maintaining the TEPHINET website as a resource for information and networking, and supporting activities in Central and South America.
Across the network, our 63 programs continue to work cooperatively to improve and expand their activities. In collaboration with the CDC and WHO, TEPHINET has taken an active role in multiple initiatives including EIS International Night 2016, continuing FETP accreditation, and planning next year’s regional conference.
In the coming year, we expect continued growth in each of our activities, staying in close contact with programs directors and fellows and identifying additional projects for the network. We welcome 2016 as another period of active involvement of the FETP fellows and programs as part of the global effort toward health security and other public health challenges.
Thanks for all your hard work in 2015. We wish you all a happy holiday season and look forward to continuing our work together in the next year. Please accept my thanks for your continued interest in—and support of—TEPHINET activities.
I hope you enjoy this edition of TEPHINews.
Best regards,
Dionisio Herrera, MD, PhD
TEPHINET Director
|
|
Updates: Mongolia FETP
The APSED (Asia Pacific Strategy for Emerging infectious Diseases) evaluation team concluded in April 2015 that the Mongolia Field Epidemiology Training Program (M-FETP) was one of the successfully implemented activities in the country within APSED. During this evaluation, M-FETP presented “self-assessment results” which detailed the strengths built since its implementation, challenges, and ways to move forward. Self-assessment outlined the strategic domains for further development of the program.
M-FETP is developing a strategic plan to cover the 2016-2018 period. Consensus was reached in the domains of the strategic plan among specialists of the Ministry of Health and Sports (MOHS), National Center for Communicable Diseases, WHO staff, M-FETP graduates and other affiliated institutions. M-FETP staff are working to finalize the strategic plan for approval by MOHS in December 2015.
|
|
|
|
Consensus meeting of M-FETP strategic plan domains (October 2015)
|
|
|
M-FETP organized a scientific writing workshop in cooperation with the WHO-WPRO WPSAR (Western Pacific Surveillance and Response) journal team. The workshop involved 22 participants from fourth and fifth cohort graduates and current cohort trainees. As a result of this workshop, M-FETP is preparing at least two manuscripts for submission to WPSAR in December 2015.
|
|
|
|
Participants of scientific writing workshop together with WPSAR journal staff
|
|
|
In 2015, M-FETP was involved in six outbreak investigations including three food-poisoning outbreaks. Results of food borne disease outbreaks were disseminated to the decision makers and other officials at the Emergency Operating Center of Ministry of Health and Sports in October.
|
|
|
|
Sheep pox outbreak investigation team in the field
|
|
Other field projects being conducted by trainees:
- HIV/AIDS mortality, co-infection in Mongolia
- Colorectal cancer registered in Mongolia, 2006-2014
- Hospitalized injuries at the National Trauma Center, 2006-2015
- Case series of human plague reported in Mongolia, 2007-2014
- Socio-psychological problems of MDR-TB patients
- Tuberculosis Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of health workers
|
|
|
|
Resident receives training on personal protective gear
|
|
Updates: Taiwan FETP
Ebola and MERS Preparedness
In 2015, the Taiwan FETP participated heavily in Ebola and MERS preparedness efforts. All FETP residents received special training on the appropriate use of personal protective equipment and table-top exercises on triage of suspected Ebola patients and designing an Ebola Treatment Unit. The residents also actively investigated several large gastroenteritis outbreaks caused by norovirus, principally the new GII.17 strain, and participated in the public health response to an unprecedented domestic dengue outbreak in Taiwan.
At the 2015 TEPHINET Global Conference, senior supervisor Dr. Angela Huang attended the Directors' Meeting and two second-year FETP residents (Drs. Meng-Yu Chen and Hao-Yuan Cheng) gave an oral presentation on TB and a poster presentation on timeliness of outbreak investigations in Taiwan, respectively. We also welcomed the 30th cohort of residents as well as supervised three international students from USA and Cameroon to conduct epidemiological activities related to HIV and dengue.
|
|
|
|
Yemen FETP team with award for Best Oral Presentation at 4th EMPHNET Conference (Jordan, October 2015)
|
|
Updates: Yemen FETP
Despite the deteriorated security situation in Yemen since the escalation of the current civil war in March, the FETP launched its third cohort in September. Fuel crisis, the freezing of foreign trade, and the absence of electricity for three months have negatively affected health services, including performing surgical operations, due to a lack of operating medical devices and the suspension of x-ray devices. These conditions have also had serious effects on vaccinations and newborn health. Power cuts, coinciding with fuel shortages, decrease the water pumped through the public grid causing an increase in the number of victims of water-related outbreaks, especially among more than one million internally displaced people.
In spite of these challenges, three residents were able to give four video presentations during the 8th Global Scientific Conference. Nine abstracts were accepted, but the team could not physically travel to the conference due to the effect of the war on air travel. In October, second cohort resident Dr. Eshraq Al Falahi (picture above, far right) won Best Oral Presentation at the EMPHNET 4th Regional Conference in Jordan. Y-FETP residents and graduates gave nine oral presentations at EMPHNET. Four residents and three graduates participated along with a Technical Advisor (TA) and epidemiologist. The TA participated in running a roundtable discussion on Public Health in Emergency and presented Yemen as a current war case study. The TA also delivered the Scientific Committee speech on behalf of the Y-FETP director, the head of the Conference Scientific Committee.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
