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Ammon News - The Global Health Development Eastern Mediterranean Public Health Network (GHD|EMPHNET) is holding a four-day workshop in Amman on the sustainability of the Field Epidemiology Training Programme (FETP) titled “Developing National FETP Plans for each country in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (EMR)”.

GHD is a regional initiative created to support countries in the EMR and strengthen their health systems to respond to public health challenges and threats.GHD was initiated to advance the work of the Eastern Mediterranean Public Health Network (EMPHNET) by building coordinating mechanisms with ministries of health, international organisations and other institutions to improve population health outcomes, according to a GHD|EMPHNET statement

Participants from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Tunisia and Yemen are taking part in the workshop, with the aim of supporting countries in the region in developing sustainability plans for their respective FETP, the statement said.

The workshop will focus on discussing concepts, approaches, experiences and processes for developing sustainability plans for the FETPs.

Studies showed that the main factors contributing to FETP sustainability are funding, institutionalisation and political structures embedded in the programme, the statement said.

Other factors include the strong collaboration between stakeholders of the programme and the resources needed to help the programme carry out its activities. Hence, ensuring effective sustainability strategies being embedded in the programme is crucial, read the statement

“In our region, FETP residents have played an instrumental role in responding to multiple natural disasters. They have served their countries’ health systems by conducting hundreds of investigations including surveillance evaluations, outbreak responses and planned studies. Their role was further magnified during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said Mohannad Al Nsour, GHD|EMPHNET’s executive director, in the statement

“Today, FETP graduates are taking up influential positions in their respective ministries. FETP residents and graduates in the region have also contributed to improving health policies and these are just a few of the roles they have taken up,” Nsour added.