The South African Field Epidemiology Training Programme (SAFETP) was established as a joint collaboration between the National Department of Health (NDOH), the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) of the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS), the University of Pretoria (UP) and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) office in South Africa. SAFETP is affiliated with the UP’s School of Health Systems and Public Health (SHSPH) and the Wits School of Public Health. Disease knows no borders and public health issues are shared globally. Given the establishment of FETPs in different regions, there was a need to promote regional and global cooperation between the participants of these programmes. SAFETP is affiliated with two formal networks: African Field Epidemiology Network (AFENET) and Training Programs in Epidemiology and Public Health Interventions Network (TEPHINET).