Update on the progress of the Viet Nam One Health Strategic Plan, 2016-2020

This important Plan is expected to set out the specific framework for attracting Government investment and international funding mobilization, building on the success of the National Integrated Operational Program on Avian Influenza, Pandemic Preparedness and Emerging Infectious Diseases (AIPED), 2011-2015. 

The second stakeholder consultation workshop for the Plan was organized in Hanoi on 26 May 2016 by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), with the participation of 50 delegates coming from various national agencies as well as international organizations with activities closely related to One Health. The main aim of this workshop was to present the draft Plan and to collect further inputs for the completion of the Plan. Participants at the meeting actively provided comments on the draft Plan. Most participants shared a common view that, through the support of the consultant team and the facilitation of the OHP Secretariat, the draft Plan demonstrated a great effort of the GoVN in providing an overall framework and orientation for national One Health efforts in the coming 5 years. In his concluding remarks, Dr Dang Quang Tan, Deputy Director of the General Department of Preventive Medicine and Deputy Director of the OHP Secretariat, emphasized the significance of the Plan, and urged relevant stakeholders to continue contributing to its finalization. In addition, Dr Tan indicated that the document would be a "living document", to be adjusted annually to reflect progress on One Health as well as ongoing developments in the wider national, regional and international context. 

As of June 2016, the consultant team has basically completed the revised Draft Plan (including a Summary Plan and a more detailed Technical Annex). A second round of consultation between a wide range of stakeholders is being implemented to finalize the Plan. In line with the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA) Roadmap, the Viet Nam One Health Strategic Plan is expected to provide a concrete program for the orientation of One Health in Viet Nam for the next 5 years, aiming ataddressing zoonotic infectious disease threats at the human-animal-ecosystem interface. The draft Summary Plan and Technical Annex can be found at: http://onehealth.org.vn/documents