Snapshot

Field Epidemiology in Action (FEiA) are celebrating a few firsts this month! The first 5-day competency based Rapid Response Team (RRT) training was completed in PNG’s National Capital District; the first cohort of One Health Frontline field epidemiologists graduated from West Sepik; and the first fellows from Timor-Leste and Vanuatu fellows joined PNG’s intermediate Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP), FETPNG. This month also marks exactly 10 years since the first cohort of FETPNG commenced training! Since then, senior and junior faculty from across PNG have trained as mentors to lead and deliver the intermediate FETP. The training model has also been adopted and adapted by the Solomon Islands and was used as the basis for an advanced FETP. FETP graduates are now key trainers and leaders in PNG’s national strategy to develop RRTs in every province.

Participants, facilitators and WHO representatives of the first 5-day competency based Rapid Response Team training.  

Timor-Leste Join FETPNG Program

Left: Anthony Draper, Dr Neri, Dr Ari and James Flint

Right: Excel training with Timor-Leste FETP fellows and staff from Menzies

FETPNG has extended its reach to Timor-Leste! Timor-Leste's first FETPNG fellows, Dr Neri and Dr Ari, just completed the first two weeks of classroom training of FETPNG. While they hope to join their Cohort 9 FETPNG colleagues in PNG for Workshops 2 and 3, delays in obtaining visas and a change in workshop dates prevented the fellows from travelling for the first workshop. Instead, James Flint (FEiA) and Anthony Draper (Menzies) conducted the training in the Timor-Leste capital, Dili.

Before Workshop 2, Timor-Leste fellows will conduct their field projects. The National Director of Public Health, Dr Neri, will complete a descriptive review of dengue in Dili for his field project, while the National Director of Microbiology, Dr Ari, will investigate antimicrobial resistance in pathogens isolated from blood culture.

In addition to the Timor-Leste participants, two participants from Vanuatu have joined the 9th FETPNG cohort. By the end of Cohort 9, FETPNG will have hosted participants from Solomon Islands (2018), Timor-Leste (2023) and Vanuatu (2023).

RRT Pilot 5-Day Competency Based Workshop

Left: Workshop participants

Right: First role play in the fictitious Province, Kabongu

A new month, a new training! Beginning on May 1, FEiA supported FETPNG to pilot Phase 3 of the Rapid Response Program with the National Capital District provincial RRT.  The five-day competency-based technical training was delivered through a scenario lens.

Participants were led to a fictitious province where a natural disaster and outbreak of illness of unknown origin had occurred. The RRT members had to use their technical and soft skills to work together to investigate, find the source of the outbreak and make public health recommendations.  

The pilot will be evaluated, the course revised and then rolled out to other provinces across PNG.

Learning Learning to Transform Training

In mid-April, national trainers from both PNG’s RRT and FETPs gathered in Port Moresby to participate in a one-week workshop: "Learning Learning to Transform Training: An initiative to strengthen training capacity in Papua New Guinea". The course aimed to upskill national trainers in adult learning and facilitation techniques. Thank you to facilitators, Matthew Griffith and Bernnie Smaghi.

The First One Health Frontline FETPNG: Reflections

After months of planning and then implementing the first One Health f-FETPNG, the program’s original vision is shaping up to have real impact on the ground, with graduates from both West New Britain and West Sepik signalling PNG’s first Frontline field epidemiologists. Morobe is currently training their first cohort. Dr Trini Velasco Ortuzar, a veterinary epidemiologist with FEiA, shares reflections from the faculty and graduates on the Frontline One Health FETP in PNG. Click on the image below to read her summary:

f-FETPNG enrols workers from human, animal and environmental health sectors to unite through a “One Health” approach. One Health integrates these traditionally separate sectors to build teams that utilise their respective expertise to create holistic, sustainable solutions to global health threats.

Learn more about One Health Frontline Field Epidemiology Training Program of Papua New Guinea (f-FETPNG).

UPCOMING

• Intermediate FETP Cohort 9, Workshop 1 - PNG (May 2023)

• Frontline FETP, Morobe, Workshop 1 -  PNG (May 2023)

• Intermediate FETP Cohort 8, Workshop 3 - PNG (June 2023)

• Sols FETP Cohort 2, Workshop 3 - Solomon Islands (July 2023)

PHOTO OF THE MONTH

Caption: Dr Laura Macfarlane-Berry (FEiA) and Ms Bethseba Peni (FETPNG) present on PNG's One Health Frontline program at APCOVE's 'Networking and Future Directions' workshop in Thailand.

Free Online Training for Field Epidemiologists

We currently have three eLearning courses available: Excel Fundamentals for Field Epis, Rapid Response Team Training and Module 1 of a 3-Module surveillance course, Basics of Public Health Surveillance (stay tuned for Modules 2 and 3, currently under development). Explore the courses by clicking on the buttons below.

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