China Field Epidemiology Training Program

Program overview

As of 2021, CFETP has enrolled 20 advanced-level cohorts with 420 trainees nationwide, and has put forward many disease prevention and control policies in field practice, which have played an important role in protecting public health and guarding health security.

In 2016, CFETP started to enroll intermediate-level cohorts lasting nine months each. In total, 239 intermediate trainees have enrolled, with 40 trainees per cohort each year until 2021. Currently, 181 trainees have graduated and are playing an important role in disease prevention and control in their provinces.

Achievements

During field training, trainees conduct public health surveillance, emergency epidemiological investigations, and applied epidemiological studies while receiving mentoring from a supervisor and field mentors. CFETP also played a significant role in public health emergency response during the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak in 2003, H1N1 in 2009, H7N9 in 2013, and Ebola in 2014. As of 2018, 24 CFETP graduates were sent to African counties including Sierra Leone, Angola, Madagascar, and Zambia for important public health aid commissions. Graduates are currently working in key technical or managerial positions in public health agencies, including six in director or deputy director roles within the China CDC. CFETP has also served as the model for 24 provinces to launch their own FETPs. From 2013 to 2017, CFETP had hosted six Foreign Aid Training Courses for 86 trainees from 20 Asian countries.