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Euro Surveill
Euro Surveill
eurosurveillance
Eurosurveillance
1025-496X
1560-7917
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)

39239726
240905m
10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2024.29.36.240905m
240905m
Miscellaneous
Note from the editors: Celebrating collaboration on World Field Epidemiology Day
Eurosurveillance editorial team 1
1 European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Stockholm, Sweden
Correspondence: Eurosurveillance editorial team (eurosurveillance@ecdc.europa.eu)

05 9 2024
29 36 240905mThis article is copyright of the authors or their affiliated institutions, 2024.
2024
The authors or their affiliated institutions
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) Licence. You may share and adapt the material, but must give appropriate credit to the source, provide a link to the licence, and indicate if changes were made.
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pmcWorld Field Epidemiology Day (WFED) is commemorated yearly on 7 September, to raise awareness of the contributions of field epidemiologists around the globe to protect health and safeguard global health security.

This year’s theme is Collaboration is Essential to Field Epidemiology, highlighting the importance of collaboration in every realm of field epidemiology, ranging from partnerships with institutes and international organisations, to the cooperation on the ground with people in communities. WFED was launched in 2021 by the Training Programs in Epidemiology and Public Health Interventions Network (TEPHINET).

Eurosurveillance has published multiple articles on field epidemiology and drawing from field epidemiology techniques and has commemorated WFED since its inception in 2021 [1]. In this issue, a study by Cunningham et al. on a Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli infection outbreak in the United Kingdom applied multiple cross-sectoral methods and datasets to identify the source of the outbreak: analytical epidemiological methods, food chain analyses and weather and animal density data. This information was essential to identify contaminated lettuce as the likely source of the outbreak [2].

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) runs the European Programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training (EPIET) and the European Programme on Health Microbiology (EUPHEM), which provide work experience and training for epidemiologists in the field in EU/EEA countries.

EPIET and EUPHEM were highlighted in an Eurosurveillance article on WFED 2023 [3]. In the same issue, an article by Hahné et al. presented reflections on the evolution of field epidemiology and its future after its unprecedented visibility during the COVID-19 pandemic, based on an analysis of discussions with EPIET and EUPHEM fellows and alumni during a workshop [4].

ECDC also manages the Mediterranean and Black Sea Programme for Intervention Epidemiology Training (MediPIET) programme, which provides opportunities in partner countries in the Mediterranean and Black Sea and was the focus of the editorial for last year’s WFED [5].
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References

1 Eurosurveillance editorial team . Eurosurveillance editorial team. Reflections on the first World Field Epidemiology Day. Euro Surveill. 2021;26 (36 ):210909m. 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2021.26.36.210909m 34505567
2 Cunningham N Jenkins C Williams S Garner J Eggen B Douglas A An outbreak of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli (STEC) O157:H7 associated with contaminated lettuce and the cascading risks from climate change, the United Kingdom, August to September 2022. Euro Surveill. 2024;29 (36 ):2400161.
3 Schaeffer J Hammer CC Evlampidou I Bubba L Igloi Z Dub T Field Epidemiology and Public Health Microbiology training: capturing the alumni perspectives of the training’s impact. Euro Surveill. 2023;28 (36 ):2300388. 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2023.28.36.2300388 37676148
4 Hahné S Hammer C Tostmann A Whelan J Williams C . Field Epidemiology: Fit for the future. Euro Surveill. 2023;28 (36 ):2300347. 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2023.28.36.2300347 37676144
5 Obradovic A . Celebrating the third World Field Epidemiology Day: a focus on MediPIET the field epidemiology training programme in Mediterranean and Black Sea countries. Euro Surveill. 2023;28 (36 ):2300474. 10.2807/1560-7917.ES.2023.28.36.2300474 37676149
