Addressing infectious disease risks at the human-animal-ecosystem interface in Viet Nam
On 3rd February 2015, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) in cooperation with the Ministry of Health (MOH) through the Partnership on Avian and Human Influenza (PAHI) co-organized the 3rd National One Health Conference with the theme of infectious disease risks at the human-animal-ecosystem interface in Viet Nam. The meeting was chaired by Vice Minister Vu Van Tam, MARD and Vice Minister Nguyen Thanh Long, MOH. Besides, Mr. Ted Osius, Ambassador of the United States of America to Viet Nam, and Ms. Pratibha Mehta, United Nations Resident Coordinator to Viet Nam also attended and had the opening remarks at the opening session of the conference. More than 100 participants coming from 22 Vietnamese and 18 international agencies joined the meeting.
In recent years there has been increasing global attention to the risk of new, re-emerging and recurring infectious diseases (often referred to generally as emerging infectious diseases, or EIDs) in humans, livestock and wildlife arising at the human-animal-ecosystem interface, which have the potential for substantial, rapid and extremely far-reaching consequences to human health, livelihoods, economic development and many other issues. In response to these threats, Viet Nam has been progressively moving towards the application of a One Health approach, which aims to bring together the key related actors across multiple sectors and disciplines to identify potential public health risks related to infectious disease and to undertake aligned and coordinated prevention and control actions. The conference was an important opportunity to take stock of these efforts.
“Viet Nam has been applying its utmost efforts, together with other countries in this region and the wider world, and with the important support of the international technical agencies and other important development partners, to contain the risk posed by avian influenza H5N1 and other emerging infectious diseases”, said Vice Minister Vu Van Tam, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
Following up the success of the 2nd One Health Conference held in April 2013, the 3rd One Health Conference provided an opportunity for different national and international One Health stakeholders in Viet Nam to give presentations on their activities and have important and productive discussions on how to take forward One Health in Viet Nam. Joint efforts to address disease threats at the human-animal-environment interface both inside and outside of Viet Nam were highlighted. The participants also discussed some key aspects, including efforts to strengthen national coordination mechanisms, the proposal for revising our Partnership to strengthen its One Health identity and purpose, and updates on the Global Health Security Agenda, One Health research initiatives, and efforts to strengthen the identification and management of risks related to wildlife farming and trade. Besides, key directions and planning requirements to sustain and strengthen One Health in Viet Nam in the future were outlined.
“Vietnam has made good progress to date but still needs to develop a strategic One Health (OH) coordination mechanism along with an OH action plan and road map”. Said Pratibha Mehta.
It was hoped and expected that the first annual Viet Nam One Health Forum would beorganized next year by the new One Health Partnership.
