The Academy hosted a short course on Field Epidemiology held by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Atlanta. The course was part of the CDC's Field Epidemiology Training Programs (FETP), which are held internationally.

From the CDC website:

For nearly 20 years, CDC's international health specialists have collaborated with ministries of health around the world to establish and conduct Field Epidemiology Training Programs (FETPs) for specialists in epidemiology. These programs are modeled on the Epidemic Intelligence Service, CDC's primary applied epidemiology training program. The 2-year training and service programs are designed for health professionals in entry- or mid-level positions and are intended to assist in building capacity in applied epidemiology and enhanced public health practice."

FETPs continue to flourish and are becoming important health resources for their countries. Trainees provide the following services to their ministries of health:

• Describing health problems and initiating actions.
• Responding to emergencies, disasters, and outbreaks.
• Analyzing surveillance data.
• Responding to public and media inquiries.
• Evaluating projects.
• Performing economic analysis.
• Publishing articles in peer-reviewed publications (i.e. bulletins and scientific journals).
• Training other health workers (50 to 100 persons per year).
• Approximately 95% of all FETP graduates remain in government service as public health practitioners at local, district, provincial, and national levels of the public health system.

Trainees have conducted investigations that encompass virtually every known area of public health, including vaccine-preventable disease, diarrheal disease, malaria and other vector-borne disease, human immunodeficiency virus, Ebola virus, occupational and environmental health-related problems, chronic disease, cancer, injuries, disasters, and nutrition.