TEPHINET submitted the following statement to the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) as part of the latter's "I Am GOARN" campaign in recognition of GOARN's twentieth anniversary:
Born in 1997, just three years before GOARN, TEPHINET is the global network of field epidemiology training programs (FETPs), comprising more than 70 FETPs working across more than 100 countries. In total, more than 14,000 public health workers have graduated from a TEPHINET member program, forming a cadre of “boots on the ground” disease detectives skilled at preventing, detecting, and responding to outbreaks and other public health emergencies. TEPHINET—not only at the Secretariat (headquarters) level, but as the vast global network of training programs—trains FETP residents and graduates to be responders who form the backbone of local, national, and international public health infrastructure.
Since GOARN’s founding in 2000, our two networks have been naturally and inextricably linked. The GOARN objective of having the right technical expertise and skills on the ground where and when they are needed the most articulates perfectly with TEPHINET’s vision that all people are protected by a field epidemiology workforce capable of detecting and responding to health threats. FETPs train their residents for precisely what GOARN needs in terms of delivering rapid and effective support to prevent and control public health emergencies. GOARN has deployed more than 2,900 public health experts to support more than 130 outbreaks; many of these experts graduated from an FETP (or from its sister programs, like the United States Epidemic Intelligence Service [EIS] and the European Program for Intervention Epidemiology Training [EPIET]).
On GOARN’s 20th anniversary, TEPHINET would like to wish its younger sibling a very happy birthday indeed. We are proud and excited to deepen our partnership by providing more response training opportunities for FETP alumni and facilitating the identification of qualified professionals for GOARN deployment. We are passionate about our mutual mission. We are ready, we are engaged, we are GOARN.
Tell your story: Are you a GOARN partner and/or have you deployed to a public health emergency through GOARN? TEPHINET and GOARN invite you to submit your own GOARN story here. GOARN would love to hear from FETP graduates with stories to share.
Interested in learning more about how TEPHINET and GOARN collaborate? Email us at secretariat@tephinet.org for more information.