FETP – One Health TOT.
by
Moses Nyambalo Phiri in collaboration with Happy Abraham Manda and Settie Kanyanda.
Eight Southern African countries recently convened in Johannesburg for a critical One Health Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP) Curriculum Trainer of Trainers (TOT) workshop. Organized by the African Epidemiology Network (AFENET), the five-day intensive, held from June 2nd to 6th, 2025, aimed to equip mentors with an updated curriculum to enhance regional collaboration in detecting, investigating, and responding to public health threats. The workshop brought together representatives from human, animal, and environmental health sectors across South Africa, Botswana, Eswatini, Lesotho, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique. The primary objective was to update mentors on the new “One Health” FETP curriculum contents and identify gaps to improve its implementation across the continent. This initiative is expected to significantly bolster collaboration in tackling disease outbreaks and other public health challenges by strengthening the integrated “One Health” concept.
FETP IN MALAWI
Malawi, a nation that has been implementing FETP since April 2016 with support from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the International Training and Education Center for Health (I-TECH), sent a five-person team to the workshop. The delegation included Mrs. Flora Tembo and Mr. Happy Manda from the Public Health Institute of Malawi (PHIM), Dr. Wamaka Msopole from Mzimba North District Health Office, Miss Maria Luwani from the Environmental Affairs Department, and Mr. Collins Chioko from the Veterinary Department. Mrs. Grace Funsani, Chief Epidemiologist coordinating FETP in Malawi, highlighted the program’s success in building sustainable capacity for timely detection and response to health threats.
Discussions during the training underscored the challenges in implementing the “One Health” concept in many participating countries. Participants emphasized that improved collaboration among sectors, particularly in data sharing and outbreak response, is crucial. Suggestions included cross-sectional visits to learn about surveillance practices in other sectors and sharing experiences.
“…Our program has successfully built a sustainable capacity for the timely detection and response to health threats….”
The Malawian team, in particular, brainstormed actionable strategies for integrating the “One Health” approach more deeply within their FETP. Their suggestions included engaging and sensitizing environmental sectors on the FETP-One Health program, recruiting trainees from the environmental sector, and incorporating case studies from environmental events into the curriculum. They also advocated for cross-sectional surveillance visits, joint outbreak investigations as field work, and multi-sectoral surveillance data collection requiring trainees to collect data from at least two sectors simultaneously.
The FETP, a three-tier training approach comprising basic, intermediate, and advanced levels, is currently implemented at the basic and intermediate levels in Malawi, targeting animal and human health practitioners. This recent TOT workshop is a significant step towards a more unified and effective approach to public health surveillance and response across Southern Africa.