Once again, we have the unique opportunity to celebrate another World Field Epidemiology Day (WFED).
September 7 is a day to celebrate the great works and gallantry of field epidemiologists across the world. It is a day to reflect on the achievements and challenges in developing field epidemiology capacity and utilizing the same effectively.
It is a day to draw the world’s attention to this much-needed but little-invested-in expertise. As we emerge from the COVID-19 Pandemic, and await the next major public emergency, WFED affords all stakeholders an opportunity to reflect on the work done so far and define approaches to sustain the gains in developing field epidemiology capacity for global health security.
Like previous ones, we have many reasons to celebrate. The exploits of field epidemiologists in the COVID-19 pandemic response and the many public health emergencies that they have responded to/are responding to in this year, their involvement in various critical public health interventions to ensure national, continental, and global health security, call for celebration and recognition.
While we celebrate, we must also draw attention to the challenges. Based on the Global Health Security Agenda minimum target of 1 epidemiologist per 200,000 population, Africa, with a population of 1.3 billion people needs a minimum of 6,500 epidemiologists in its health system to impact it.
Currently, Africa has barely half this number of epidemiologists. This deficit has implications for public health emergency preparedness and response. It has implications for continental and global health security. We call on governments, partners, the private sector, foundations, and all stakeholders to invest in bridging the gap.
The various post-Covid engagements provides great opportunities for committing resources towards developing a fit-for-purpose public health workforce and that includes field epidemiologists. National level investments are critical and therefore, I call on key stakeholders to raise awareness on these issues in your countries.
As we speak, we still have countries in Africa that do not have any of the tiers of field epidemiology training program (FETP). The need to reach every corner with FETP cannot be overemphasized. In the fight for continental and global health security, we are as strong as our weakest link.
Therefore, no country should be left behind. Our reach must be far and wide. Talking about going far recalls the popular and wisdom-laden African dictum: “If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together”.
One may argue that the urgency with which we must prepare for the next pandemic, and the need to reach every country (going far) demands a non-mutually exclusive approach to going fast and going far. However, if we must reach far, then we must adopt an all-inclusive approach.
We must go together. That is why the theme for this year’s WFED, “Increasing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Field Epidemiology” is most apt. Going far demands that we are deliberate and proactive in our decisions and actions to bring all on board.
On this year’s WFED, we should go out and advocate for increased investment in field epidemiology. We should advocate for diversity, equity, and inclusion in field epidemiology. Let us strongly address the issues of diversity and equity as we develop field epidemiology capacity for the safety of humanity.
The author is director – African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET)
Source: The Observer
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