About MFETP

Goal of the MFETP

  • To establish and sustain a critical mass of skilled, field epidemiologists in Mongolia, to enable the country to quickly detect, promptly respond to and control infectious diseases outbreaks and other public health emergencies, which can be of national, regional and international concern.

Objectives of the MFETP

  • to train a public health workforce and develop the competencies described below, and in particular, to strengthen local and national capacity for surveillance and response;
  • to identify and conduct study projects for trainees in a way that will contribute directly to the enhancement of public health. These projects will include rapid responses to disease outbreaks and other health emergencies, strengthening of surveillance systems, assessment of public health problems, and the implementation and evaluation of public health programs and policies.

Duration of the training

Trainees spend one year to complete the programme. This duration is based on a balance of (1) minimal exposure for trainees to necessary range of public health projects, including outbreaks with seasonal variation; (2) resources drained to run the program.

Competency

By the conclusion of the programme, trainees will be able to do the following:

  • Conduct a rapid investigation and response to a potentially serious public health problem, for example, a disease outbreak, or natural disaster.
  • Analyze a surveillance database or other health information system, and using the results to advocate for public health actions at all levels of the health system, including senior decision-makers.
  • Evaluate an existing public health surveillance system, or design and implement a new surveillance system or other health information system.
  • Develop research proposal, conduct and interpret an epidemiological study e.g. community survey, cohort study, case control study, and intervention study, randomized or quasi-randomized intervention trial.

These activities usually incorporate development of written and oral communication skills by:

  • Writing a briefing or recommendations for action to senior decision and policy makers at the Provincial and National levels.
  • Publishing a short report in a newsletter or journal for rapid communication of study results.
  • Presenting a paper at a national or international scientific conference.
  • Preparing and conducting training sessions for public health workers across all levels of the health system.

Curriculum

The training programme covers less than 20% classroom teaching (around 2 months out of 12-months training) and over 80% supervised “apprenticeship” in the field (around 10 months).

The classroom training is conducted in 2 blocks, each for around one month, at the first and seventh month of training. The topics include:

  • Introduction to epidemiology and biostatistics
  • Outbreak investigations
  • Public Health Surveillance
  • Epidemiology of communicable diseases and other issues of public health importance in Mongolia
  • Computer training

Instead of didactic lectures, the classroom training is conducted with ample open discussion, hand-on practice (particularly for biostatistics), case studies and group field exercise.

The Advisory Committee of MFETP

In order to get support and to ensure that the programme is meeting needs, we have developed Advisory Committee (AC) with 10 members. Roles of AC as follows:

  1. Overall guidance on Mongolian FETP
  2. Review and approve the programme curriculum
  3. Regular monitoring and assessing progress of the programme
  4. Final assessment of the programme and trainees’ achievement

Members are comprised of different organizations as shown below:

  • N.Khurelbaatar – Chair - Minister of Health
  • P.Nymadawa – Chair of Public Health Advisory Group of MoH and President of Mongolian Society of Virology
  • B.Bayart – Director of the Department of Public Administration and Management, MoH
  • S.Tugsdelger – Director of the Department of Public Health Policy and Implementation, MoH
  • D.Nyamkhuu – Director of NCCD
  • D.Otgonbaatar – Director of NCIDNF
  • J.Oyunbileg – Director of PHI
  • O.Chimedsuren – Dean of School of Public Health, HSUM
  • Luo Dapeng – Medical Officer, WHO Representative Office in Mongolia
  • P.Enkhtuya – Project Officer of MFETP

MFETP Staff

  • G.Surenkhand – Director, FET Unit, NCCD
  • J.Baigalmaa – FET Unit Supervisor, NCCD
  • P.Enkhtuya – Project Officer, WHO Mongolia
  • E.Temuulen – Project Assistant, WHO Mongolia