South Asia Field Epidemiology and Technology Network, Inc., (SAFETYNET), was incorporated in 2009 as a non-stock, non-profit organization to foster collaboration and cooperation in disease prevention and control efforts among countries in the Asia Pacific region by supporting applied epidemiology programs and enhancing surveillance systems. SAFETYNET cooperates with government, non-government, and international agencies to increase inter-regional exchange, expertise sharing, as well as inter-agency and interdisciplinary collaborations to build applied epidemiology capacity among Asian nations.

The staff of SAFETYNET includes field epidemiologists who have spent their careers in public health, field epidemiology, and disease surveillance led by Dr. Maria Consorcia Lim-Quizon, Executive Director. Over the years, SAFETYNET has built long-standing professional relationships with FETPs in the South East Asia and Western Pacific regions.  Since most SAFETYNET Technical staff are FETP alumni and/or former FETP Directors, and having previously worked in government, this made it easy for SAFETYNET to hit the ground running when it started to implement activities. Although SAFETYNET maintains a lean core staff, it has surge capacity or the ability to readily recruit qualified public health professionals from the Asia Pacific region as needed for the projects it implements.

 

In the past decade, SAFETYNET has evolved from a training network within field epidemiology to broader training areas in the health and education sectors. It provides different technical services across Asia and Pacific countries such as Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, Laos, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Nepal, India, and Papua New Guinea, including but not limited to:

• Providing technical assistance during didactic courses of Field Epidemiology Training Programs (FETP).

• Conducting training courses for FETP Supervisors and Mentors.

• Conducting training workshops on Scientific Writing and Effective Public Speaking.

• Conducting training program on “Applied Management” skills for health workforce.

• Promoting One Health Concept to provincial/district levels of Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia and Philippines through joint workshops for human and animal health staff. The One Health concept is a strategy for expanding interdisciplinary collaborations and communications in all aspects of health care for humans, animals and the environment.

• Encouraging the organization of national FETP Alumni networks and strengthening those that are already existing.

• Participating in TEPHINET projects and activities such as the Accreditation of FETPs.

• Taking an active role in organizing bi-regional TEPHINET Scientific conferences in Indonesia (2011), Vietnam (2014), Cambodia (2016), Lao PDR (2018) and Taiwan (2021) which gathered hundreds health workers and experts from countries in the region.