Strengthening Our Field Epidemiology Capacity to Combat Emerging Diseases and Pandemic Threats

Around the world, field epidemiology training constitutes an important line of public health defence against emerging infectious diseases. The National Centre for Infectious Diseases (NCID) has partnered NUS Saw Swee Hock School of Public Health (SPH) to develop the Singapore Field Epidemiology Training Programme (S-FETP) with the Ministry of Health. This programme offers stepwise training to medical and public health officers under the One Health Framework to meet growing field epidemiology needs.

The programme is modelled after the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Epidemic Intelligence Service and aims to equip participants with the knowledge and skills to carry out field investigations and disease control. Since October 2020, four short courses (6-day programmes) have already been conducted for over 110 rapid responders and front-liners from various ministries and agencies, including the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Manpower, Ministry of Defence, NCID, Singapore Food Agency, National Parks Board, Agency for Integrated Care, Duke-NUS and NUHS. There are more courses in the pipeline.

Jointly conducted by trainers from SPH, NCID and allied public health agencies, the short courses provide field investigators with the competence needed to apply field epidemiology tools and methods. In our bespoke model, agency-specific emphases on matters such as food hygiene, vector control, environmental, wildlife and veterinary public health can be set out clearly, to provide a checklist for trainee participants to track progress in an itemized manner. One Health principles demonstrating our linkages between humans, animals and the environment are highlighted in the emergence of infectious diseases and pandemic threats.

Trainee participants quickly gain the confidence to undertake rapid epidemiological response on the ground for disease surveillance, investigation and control. They also learn to apply an evidence-based holistic approach in outbreak management, and to perform multi-disciplinary investigation into epidemic diseases and environmental threats.

Operating out of the agencies for fieldwork and SPH-NCID for didactics, our training programmes are designed to meet the very challenging future for our public health and field epidemiology practitioners amidst the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic!