The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) India Country Director Ken Earhart and senior officials from the Government of India Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoH&FW) convened today in New Delhi to celebrate the collaboration between the U.S. CDC and the Government of India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare’s India Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) as it graduates its first cohort. The event was part of the inaugural ceremony of the second annual India Epidemic Intelligence Service Conference, which lauded the program’s successes, reflected on lessons learned, and introduced the third cohort of the program.
Via recorded video, CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden congratulated the first India EIS cohort and the MoH&FW for supporting its efforts to strengthen epidemiology through the field-based training program. Dr. Frieden noted, “the CDC, through the Global Disease Detection collaboration with the Government of India, is committed to working with NCDC to help build public health capacity in India by strengthening practice and applied epidemiology training, so that India may establish and grow its own cadre of elite public health leaders.”
Dr. Kapil Goel, one of the seven EIS graduates of the first Indian cohort, said, “This program has changed my life. I recommend it as a perfect way to build a successful public health career.”
The India Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Program was inaugurated in New Delhi in 2012, highlighting the collaboration between the Government of India Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. EIS is a two-year competency-based field epidemiology training program established by the U.S.CDC in 1951. Over 3,000 epidemiologists have completed the program. These public health professionals have led and participated in responses to countless outbreaks, including the first recognized cases of Legionnaire’s Disease, Toxic Shock Syndrome, and HIV/AIDS. India’s EIS Programme is the first program branded “EIS” outside the U.S. CDC program, a significant mark of collaboration and partnership between the United States and India. The program is executed by the MoH&FW’s National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC).
