Cambodia Field Epidemiology Training Program

Program overview

The goal of the Cambodia Applied Epidemiology Training (AET) Programme is to establish and sustain a critical mass of skilled field epidemiologists in Cambodia and to promptly control infectious diseases and other public health emergencies.

The program has been in place since 2011, supported technically and financially by the World Health Organization (WHO), U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the U.S. Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA), and the Korea International Cooperation Agency (KOICA).

Achievements

Alumni from the program have been deployed in the field to conduct disease outbreak investigations and communicable disease surveillance and response.

The majority (94 percent) of graduates surveyed indicated that they have professionally benefited from the program, citing the following examples:

  • Gaining skills in specimen collection, outbreak investigation, and computers
  • Gaining confidence, respect, and shared knowledge
  • Gaining more responsibility on the job and getting promoted
  • Seeing changes in workplace expectations
  • Becoming active Rapid Response Team (RRT) members
  • Gaining more responsibilities in preparing disease surveillance reports
  • Getting more involved in outbreak investigations
  • Taking on more leadership roles