Key highlights:
- The fellowship is open to public health officials in their mid-career who have Public Health Emergency Operation Centres.
- It will run for 24 weeks (six months).
- The deadline for applications is May 20, 2023.
The Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is now accepting applications for the 2023 African Public Health Emergency Management Fellowship.
The Public Health Emergency Management (PHEM) Fellowship will be open to African public health professionals in their mid-career who have managed Public Health Emergency Operations Centres (PHEOCs) or led emergency preparedness and response programs in African Union member countries.
The Fellows will go through standardized training, mentorship, hands-on experience, and a technical assistance program based on the Fellowship design.
Fellows will receive specialized training in public health emergency management functions and operations, participate in study tours, work within the Africa CDC Emergency Operations Center (EOC), participate in public health exercises and responses, and receive guidance from global emergency management specialists during the training.
Fellows will be expected to facilitate the expansion of public health emergency management programs in their home countries upon completion and take on leadership and advisory roles in public health emergency management programs.
The Fellowship structure
The fellowship will last for 24 weeks (six months). It will consist of eight weeks of on-site training at the Africa CDC’s headquarters in Ethiopia. During this time, Fellows will be paired with experienced mentors and coaches to help them with their ongoing learning.
Fellows will then be deployed to PHEOCs across Africa including the Africa CDC PHEOC for eight weeks. The next four weeks will be spent on study tours, with each fellow getting a chance to visit one PHEOC within Africa and one outside Africa.
To round up the program, the final four weeks will be spent on didactic learning, project completion and final graduation.
The Funding
Africa CDC will cover all expenses related to the fellowship, including travel, a monthly stipend, and insurance for the duration of the residential placements. It will also provide all learning and development materials.
The Eligibility Criteria
Candidates must meet the following requirements in order to be considered:
- They must be citizens of an African Union Member State
- They must have a postgraduate degree in public health or a closely related field
- They must have relevant professional experience in any area of public health, including but not limited to PHEOC operations, one health, medicine, finance, logistics and supply chain health economics, health policy, animal health or environmental health; and
- They must be employed full-time in a public institution in Africa in any capacity
Application process
All applicants must provide the following required information:
- A letter of support from the candidate’s current employer confirming employment and ensuring that the candidate will be given enough time to participate in the Fellowship program and attend the fellowship.
- A personal statement (maximum 500 words) detailing the candidate’s commitment to African public health emergency management, including the following:
- professional experience and attainment
- Their vision of, and the future impact of their training on public health emergency management in their country and Africa
- How they would champion public health initiatives in Africa and
- How their personal and professional experience will enable them to fully be excellent ambassadors of the fellowship.
- A brief project proposal (maximum 800 words) outlining a potential emergency management challenge they will address. The proposal should include a title, a brief description of the problem, a proposed solution strategy, and the expected outcome.
- An updated resume
Completed applications with all supporting documents should be sent to africacdceoc@africa-union.org before May 20, 2023 deadline.
For more information, visit Africa CDC.
