Dr Tom Friedan, CEO & President – Resolve To Save Lives

AFENET@20 Anniversary Message

I wish I could be with you there in Kampala. Congratulations to AFENET leadership, FETP graduates, FELTP graduates, mentors and trainees. Two decades of transformational work.

I have often said that probably the single most important thing that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention does is to support FETP programs around the world. We are a society of siblings. We speak the same language, whether it’s French, English, or many other languages, we speak epidemiology.

And epidemiology is about seeing the invisible, seeing patterns that aren’t immediately apparent, but that could kill people. Seeing not only the invisible trends, but also what makes it so hard for people to take action to avoid the tragedies that we can predict. And seeing the pathway to progress, understanding that technical rigor requires deep understanding of a topic.

You don’t get it by Googling something. You get it by studying it, by living it, by seeing it, by putting together the best scientific knowledge with the best practical knowledge of what really works to save lives. FETP graduates are the eyes and ears, not just of public health and the healthcare system, but of society.

With more than 20,000 graduates, it is truly earth changing. In addition to seeing the impossible, we need to shatter the illusion of inevitability. We need to believe in what may seem impossible because the world as it is today, is not as it always has been.

There are lots of areas where we’ve made huge progress. Smallpox is no more. Meningitis outbreaks that devastated the so-called meningitis belt in Africa are no more.

These are just a couple of the many areas where FETP and other epidemiologists have played a transformational role. Polio has been a huge challenge. It’s been harder than anyone could have anticipated 40 years ago when the world undertook eradication, but we wouldn’t be nearly as far as we are today.

And we won’t get over the finish line without the tremendous contributions of epidemiologists trained in AFENET and other programs. Ebola, in Ebola, it wouldn’t have been controlled without the kind of practical grounded field epidemiology that AFENET specializes in. And to create a healthier future, we need to strengthen institutions.

And it’s so wonderful to see the AFENET graduates populating institutions all over the world, including in Africa, and serving in increasingly important positions of leadership. We also strengthen not only the epidemiologic expertise, but also the operational and political expertise because without systems that work during crises and everyday experience, everyday challenges, and without effective political awareness, savvy action, we won’t be able to protect and promote health as effectively as we all want to and need to. At Resolve to Save Lives, we’re grateful for our partnership with AFENET, whether it was during the COVID-19 pandemic, or looking at rapid response to outbreaks, or now addressing lead poisoning prevention.

These are challenging times, really challenging times. And there is no silver lining to the kind of destruction that is being imposed with a very unplanned and often unscientific approach. But we in the field of epidemiology, we who speak the same language, we who see the invisible, the harms being done by the actions being taken today, we can work together to continue to build and strengthen the capacity of societies to work together to address the problems that confront us, to figure out more practical, more efficient, more effective ways to advance health, to reduce disease, to address what’s killing the most people, whether it’s environmental or infectious or chronic, to see the new threats that are emerging.

And for the FETP family, stay curious, stay optimistic, stay connected, and stay focused on impact. Never forget the so what question. So, what good did our program do? That’s not an impolite question.

That’s a question that respects that all of us have the ability to make change that will save not just one life or a hundred lives, but potentially millions of lives. So thank you so much for what you do. We’re honored to work alongside you as partners to walk the pathway of progress together.

We’re inspired by your commitment to excellence and to equity. And here’s to another 20 years of health progress in the field of epidemiology with AFENET and other partners. Thank you so much.