Nepal’s first national conference on field epidemiology held

Kathmandu, Nepal - The Ministry of Health and Population, with support from WHO Country Office for Nepal and The Pandemic Fund, convened Nepal’s first national conference on field epidemiology from 29-30 June. The event brought together over 200 public health professionals, including field epidemiologists, researchers and representatives from government and development partners to address Nepal’s vulnerability to disease outbreaks driven by geography, urbanization, spillover from animals, climate change and health system challenges. The conference fostered cross-sectoral collaboration to enhance emergency preparedness, showcased achievements of the Field Epidemiology Training Programme (FETP) since 2022, and explored innovations in epidemiology and public health policy. This milestone reflects Nepal’s commitment to embedding field epidemiology in emergency preparedness and building resilient health systems capable of promptly detecting and responding to public health emergencies. WHO will continue supporting the expansion of FETP, the integration of graduates into response teams, collaboration with academic and global networks and the documentation of best practices for knowledge exchange.