Specialized 3 months Field Epidemiology training programme launched

ISLAMABAD: Health Department, in collaboration with the National Institute of Health Pakistan today (Monday) launched a specialized 3 months frontline Field Epidemiology training programme for its district-level surveillance staff, ARY News reported.

The programme would be executed by Pakistan’s Field Epidemiology & Laboratory Training Programme (FELTP) to tackle the increasing burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases rampant in the country.

Pakistan has a double burden of Infectious diseases which adds pressure on the already scarce health resources in case of outbreaks.

The initiative aims at imparting skills in collection, analysis and interpretation of most relevant district data thereby leading to early detection and generation of timely and appropriate response to the disease outbreaks as soon as they occur.

The high-value skill-based training will be imparted by seasoned national experts from NIH, FELTP and Punjab health department.

A total of 24 officers including District Surveillance Coordinators and Entomologists from different districts of Punjab participated in the weeklong first contact session of the course inaugurated in Lahore today.

The provincial Disease Surveillance & Response Centre at DGHS Lahore will be further equipped to optimally support the district teams in the advent of an outbreak”, said Dr.Haroon Jahangir, Director General Health Services, Punjab.