Program overview
Program objectives: To develop field epidemiologists who can take rapid and correct actions to assess the situation and investigate the cause of infectious diseases at the time of an epidemic or an outbreak and who can contribute to the maintenance and improvement of high quality surveillance systems for infectious diseases.
Eligibility for enrollment: Candidates for FETP should have a strong interest in risk management of infectious diseases and have undergone at least two years of clinical training or have at least three years’ experience in public health service. Types of occupation include those with a specialized qualification, such as physicians, dentists, veterinarians, pharmacists, public health nurses, nurses, laboratory technicians, and food sanitation inspectors.
Program outline: Two years of on-the-job training at the Infectious Disease Surveillance Center of the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID) to learn how to respond to infectious disease outbreaks and perform infectious disease surveillance, among other aspects.
Employment: Intended mainly for officials who are seconded by local governments (salary is paid by the home institution) and specialists, such as physicians working in medical institutions and who want to work in the public health field in the future. From 2017, the latter trainees became eligible for receiving a salary from NIID as contractual staff.
Trainers: One center director, one division chief (Japan FETP graduate), four senior research scientists (includes one Japan FETP graduate and one EIS graduate), and one research scientist (Japan FETP graduate)
