The N.C. Institute for Public Health's Center for Public Health Preparedness is collaborating with the Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (UVG) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to develop and pilot the Field Epidemiology Training Program, a competency-based face-to-face curriculum for Central America.

Five training courses, totaling eight weeks, have been held in Guatemala City with students from Guatemala, Honduras, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Panama. These students will graduate in March 2009 with a master's degree from UVG. At that time, a new group of students will begin the two-year program.