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DR. PATRICK NGUKU: The Field Epidemiology Laboratory Training Programs --
sometimes referred to also as FELTPs --
are competence-based training programs in applied epidemiology
modeled after the 60-year-old
CDC Epidemic Intelligence Service,
also known as EIS,
that is responsible for training
most of the public-health practitioners
in the U.S.
FELTP,
just like the Epidemic Intelligence Service training,
is composed of 25% class training
and 75% field-based training.
Currently, there are 41 FELTPs in 57 countries.
Since 2008 October,
when the Nigerian FELTP program was initiated,
we have been involved in response
to a number of infectious
and non-infectious disease outbreaks.
As a graduate of the Kenyan FELTP,
which I graduated in the year 2006,
I remember that in my first three weeks of training,
classes had to be suspended
because there was a massive aflatoxicosis outbreak
in the eastern part of the country.
Aflatoxicosis is a condition caused by consumption of food
that is contaminated by aflatoxins,
usually caused by poor storage of grains,
and we were deployed in the field
to help solve this problem.
Among the things that we did was identification
of affected persons in hospitals and communities,
confirmation of foods that were poisoned,
as well as educating the communities
on seeking treatment and prevention of this condition.
The Nigerian FELTP is funded by
the President's Emergency Plans for AIDS Relief -- PEPFAR --
and the U.S. Agency for International Development --
USAID -- as well as the government of Nigeria.
In the Ministries of Health and Ministries of Agriculture,
we've been able to train 64 residents in the program
and numerous short-course graduates.
We've been able to respond to diseases, outbreak diseases
of infectious nature and non-infectious nature,
and therefore reducing illness, deaths,
and disabilities from these diseases.
And I'm happy that we are achieving
the goals of the program, which is to provide service
as we build epidemiological capacity
in Nigeria and in the region.