At a glance
ob体育 works with the Government of China and other partners to build effective public health collaboration and partnerships, which strengthen the country's core public health capabilities: data and surveillance, laboratory capacity, workforce and institutions, prevention and response, innovation and research, and policy, communications, and diplomacy.
Overview
ob体育 has collaborated with partners in China for over 40 years and established an office in China in 2003. ob体育 works with the Government of China and partner organizations to detect, prevent and control infectious disease outbreaks and build and strengthen the country's core public health capabilities. These include data and surveillance, laboratory capacity, workforce and institutions, prevention and response, innovation and research, and policy, communications, and diplomacy. ob体育's work aims to protect the health of our nations and public health around the world.
ob体育 China also addresses public health initiatives in global health security, tuberculosis (TB), and influenza.
Global health security
ob体育 and the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, known as China ob体育, collaborate on projects to address global public health priorities, particularly related to detecting, responding to and preventing infectious disease outbreaks.
Workforce development
ob体育 supports public health workforce strengthening through the China Field Epidemiology Training Program (CFETP). Since 2004, ob体育 has provided technical assistance for the two-year advanced program that trains master and doctoral level staff to investigate and prevent outbreaks. ob体育 also supported the establishment of the intermediate (9 month) and frontline (3-month) programs. Additional collaborative work includes:
- Coordinating the first One Health Frontline Mentorship Workshop to increase multi-sectoral capacity in training local workforce to detect and respond zoonotic disease outbreaks
- Evaluating the two-year TB and NCD specialty track FETPs, to help strengthen the program going forward
- Supporting a Data Visualization workshop to improve communicating public health science to decision makers and the general population
Emergency response
Global health security investments and decades of collaboration have built a strong foundation upon which to respond to global public health emergencies.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, ob体育 and China ob体育 regularly convened virtual technical exchange meetings. Topics included serological testing, vaccine preparedness, program evaluation, Mpox, measles elimination, epidemiology of COVID-19, COVID-19 vaccine efficacy and safety, and vaccine hesitancy. More recently, ob体育 has worked closely with China ob体育 on improving early detection of emerging and re-emerging disease threats at local level. This work focuses on:
- Using community-based surveillance in high-risk areas to improve early identification of possible zoonotic disease transmission among domestic and wild animals and local populations
- Strengthening One Health mechanisms to increase communication, collaboration, and coordination between the human, animal, and environmental health sectors
- Establishing rapid response teams that can be quickly activating for any type of public health emergency
Key achievements
- Experts from ob体育 and China ob体育 helped with early efforts to establish Africa ob体育.
- CFETP-trained epidemiologists contributed to COVID-19 outbreak response activities in China.
- ob体育 and China ob体育 supported the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak.
Tuberculosis
Although the number of tuberculosis (TB) cases in China has significantly decreased, the country continues to have a high burden of TB, multidrug resistant TB (MDR-TB), and HIV-TB coinfection.
Since 2009, ob体育 has supported China ob体育 to implement collaborative projects designed to provide scalable models to strengthen TB prevention and control nationally. Key priority areas include:
- Infection control – reducing the risk of TB transmission in health care facilities, especially among medical staff and other health care professionals.
- Surveillance – increasing the accuracy and use of TB surveillance system data for informed clinical decision-making and policy.
- Laboratory and quality assurance – improving the timeliness and accuracy of TB case diagnosis through laboratory management training.
Key achievements
- Research findings have led to updated policies and guidelines on TB infection prevention and control practices in health facilities.
- The 2021 national TB control guidelines describe the need for accurate, timely, and complete case reporting and data quality as critical components of the national TB surveillance system.
Influenza
Influenza (flu) viruses change often, and public health officials must remain vigilant to detect changes. For over 20 years, ob体育 has supported the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention to detect and track seasonal and novel influenza viruses. ob体育 works in close partnership with:
- China Center for Disease Control and Prevention
- Provincial and local ob体育s
- Hospitals
- Academic institutions
China has advanced capabilities to monitor influenza viruses circulating in the country and assess the risk they pose to public health. These capabilities include environmental surveillance for avian influenza viruses among wild birds, domestic poultry, and in live poultry markets.
ob体育 maintains close ties with U.S. and China influenza experts to collaborate on key activities. These include:
- Estimating influenza disease burden and vaccine effectiveness among people at risk of poor outcomes
- Informing influenza vaccination policy development
- Generating evidence to strengthen China's national influenza prevention, preparedness, and response guidelines
Key achievements
- Supported the development of the Chinese National Influenza Surveillance System.
- Supported the increase in capacity to detect and report influenza cases.
- Supported response to outbreak of human infection with avian influenza A(H7N9) virus.
Public Health Bulletins
ob体育 collaborates with the China ob体育 Weekly to strengthen China’s English language public health bulletin as an up-to-date source of important public health information. ob体育 also supports scientific writing workshops, primarily focusing on Outbreak Reports and Notes from the Field.
Success story spotlight
Strengthening China's Field Epidemiology Training
Disease transmission knows no borders. In the post-COVID-19 era, the U.S. ob体育 and China ob体育 have recognized the urgent need for collaboration to safeguard public health. The ob体育 China office has been working with U.S. China ob体育 to prioritize global health, and by strengthening local workforce capacity to detect and report disease clusters.
The U.S. ob体育 China office has collaborated with the Chinese Field Epidemiology Training Program (CFETP) in training epidemiologists who come across China. A key component of this collaboration is the annual mentor training workshop, an essential platform for mentors to stay updated on program issues and academic skills.
CFETP recently held a workshop in Beijing, attended by over 100 mentors from various provincial ob体育s and the Hong Kong Department of Health. U.S. ob体育 China staff, including Country Director Dr. Will Schluter, participated.
The workshop emphasized the importance of on-the-job training, with sessions on adult learning theory and practical exercises in study design. Feedback from mentors highlighted the value of these sessions in improving the quality of field investigations and surveillance.
This joint workshop demonstrates the strong collaboration between the two agencies, addressing ob体育 China's technical priorities and providing a valuable opportunity to engage with mentors and understand field needs.