BACKGROUND: The U.S.-Affiliated Pacific Islands (USAPIs) are small island territories and nations with limited financial and human resources. These island jurisdictions suffer from health disparities, to include overwhelming chronic disease burdens that further stress weak healthcare systems, resulting in poor health outcomes to include low life expectancies. Although data are collected within these USAPIs, they are often unreliable, inconsistently collected and analyzed, and underutilized for health planning due to lack of epidemiological capacity and weak surveillance systems. Therefore, various partner agencies in the region piloted the Data for Decision Making (DDM) Program in order to address these issues.
METHODS: The DDM Program was piloted from August 2013 to September 2015 using regional meetings in which participants were brought in to a central location for all four one-week modules as well as one field epidemiology project. Participants were from local health departments, and field epidemiology projects were selected based on needs of their current positions. The Program was delivered by Pacific Public Health Surveillance Network partners, and used different pedagogical methods, with a focus on participatory learning methods based on adult learning principles with practical hands-on activities. All modules were formatively assessed by a final exam and a project. Additionally, pre- and post-module evaluation was undertaken to assess students’ self-reported level of understanding and skill, as well as provide feedback for improvement. Finally, a facilitator workshop was held at the end of the entire Program pilot phase to make improvements on the Program for future implementation.
RESULTS: The piloted DDM Program was well received by the participants, as well as local health leaders. Participants felt that their skills were improved across nearly all competency areas. However, moving forward, it is apparent that the involvement of local health leadership needs to be strengthened in the future in order to select the most suitable candidates for the Program, as well as identify critical field epidemiology projects. Additionally, it was decided the modules should be rearranged to increase effectiveness. Finally, it was suggested that an in-country delivery of the Program be tested in order to maximize trained individuals and significantly improve existing surveillance systems.
CONCLUSIONS: It is critical that epidemiological capacity and surveillance systems within the USAPIs be strengthened in order to allow these jurisdictions with limited resources to assess health priorities, appropriately allocate resources, and evaluate public health interventions. The DDM Program offers a regionally specific, sustainable solution to train well-qualified epidemiological technicians throughout the USAPIs.