South-East Asia Region: WHO calls to enhance field epidemiology workforce

Enhancing the field epidemiology workforce is one way to strengthen capacities to respond to health emergencies, as the World Health Organization and member countries in the South-East Asia Region called for on Friday, according to a news release from WHO.

“One of the lessons from COVID-19 pandemic is that field epidemiology workforce is a critical component of national health security systems. Continued efforts are needed to invest in field epidemiology capacity strengthening,” said Saima Wazed, Regional Director, WHO South-East Asia, in her message to the three-day ‘Regional Consultation: Advancing field epidemiology capacities in the WHO South-East Asia Region’ held here this week.

Field epidemiologists worked in a variety of capacities during the COVID-19 pandemic, including planning, coordinating, monitoring, and surveillance as well as contact tracing and case investigations. “Field epidemiologists have been playing an important role in surveillance, risk assessment and response, whether in the aftermath of natural calamities like earthquakes, cyclones and floods, or in disease outbreaks such as dengue, influenza, Nipah, measles, foodborne diseases etc.” reads the release. A nation’s capacity to surge and react to future events is strengthened when its health workforce is qualified and equipped through field epidemiology training programs (FETP).

With new demands in the fields of zoonotic diseases, antibiotic resistance, genomics, and non-communicable diseases, the environment around FETP is changing. Furthermore, new technologies are developing that call for a wider range of skills, including data science, advanced analytics, and monitoring of the environment and wastewater. Ministries of health, technical agencies, and partners gathered for a three-day consultation on February 20–22, during which time the progress, lessons learned, and obstacles facing the region’s efforts to strengthen field epidemiology capacities were examined.

“We have to address the basic questions that emerge from these challenges to ensure adequate field epidemiology capacities at the subnational and local levels, to facilitate effective and locally appropriate learning so that the trainees gain practical capacities to conduct effective surveillance, field investigations and risk assessments,” the Regional Director said.
“Importantly, we need institutionalization and sustainability of the FETPs so that these capacities can contribute to essential public health functions, including primary health care” he added.
The Regional Director emphasized on collaboration and partnerships across countries in the Region, as well as strengthening engagement of multisectoral stakeholders, including among ‘One Health’ stakeholders, to advance health security and health system resilience.