Zimbabwe Field Epidemiology Training Program (ZimFETP)
Prior to Zimbabwe’s first case of COVID-19, ZimFETP developed and distributed informational materials for the Ministry of Health and Child Care (MOHCC), including 20,000 flyers, 500 posters, and items bearing COVID-19 prevention messages, such as t-shirts and pens. Nearly 50 residents participated in a door-to-door awareness campaign that reached more than 1,800 households. The program also conducted a knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) study among residents of Harare, Zimbabwe’s capital.
When the country went under lockdown, FETP residents conducting data collection in the field were initially unable to move freely to conduct their studies. As a solution, residents were provided with MOHCC identification cards enabling them to move about as essential workers.
ZimFETP graduates have taken on several leadership roles in the COVID-19 response. At the MOHCC head office, the acting permanent secretary of health is an FETP graduate, as are two out of three chief directors, 10 directors and deputy directors, and four Health Studies Office directors and coordinators who are part of the National COVID-19 Task Force. At the provincial level, eight of out 10 provincial medical directors are ZimFETP graduates, and they oversee all COVID-19 activities in their provinces. Eight out of 10 provincial epidemiology and disease control officers are graduates and oversee all infectious disease surveillance activities in their provinces. At the city health directorate level, five directors in Harare, Bulawayo, Gweru, Kadoma, and Kwekwe are ZimFETP graduates; several more graduates work as epidemiologists and program managers. In addition, nine graduates are working as contractors with Africa CDC to assist in COVID-19 response.