In 1997, the Training Programs in Epidemiology and Public Health Interventions Network (TEPHINET) was established to strengthen international public health capacity by providing a network for the FETPs located around the world. TEPHINET is celebrating its 20th year of the professional network of 69 field epidemiology training programs (FETPs) working in more than 100 countries around the globe. TEPHINET chose to have the 9th global scientific conference in Chiang Mai as Thailand was the first Field Epidemiology Training Program (FETP) established outside North America in 1980.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) developed the Field Epidemiology Training Program to train epidemiologists to perform a set of core competencies that are vital to the practice of public health, while providing a valuable public health service to their countries and regions.