Specifically, the Vietnamese Government has approved the project under the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), funded by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and implemented by the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Health, to support, collaborate and share knowledge on adopting a unified approach on Vietnam’s healthcare.
With a US$800,000 budget, the UNDP will support Vietnam in reducing the threat from avian and pandemic influenza (API) and other emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) by introducing unified access to Vietnam’s healthcare.
“One Health recognizes that the health of people is inextricably linked to the health of animals, both wild and domestic, as animal diseases can jump to humans if given the chance,” said Ms Pratibha Metha, UN Resident Coordinator in Vietnam. “We need to develop effective policies, up-to-date regulatory approaches, enable good enforcement and raise public awareness to ensure our safety through disease prevention in humans, livestock and wild animals,” affirmed Ms Metha.
Within the framework of this project, the UN offices in Vietnam will promote national coordinating mechanism between the areas of human health and animal health through developing abilities and skills for the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Ministry of Health, as well as the international technical dialogue mechanism.
Approved by the government in 2010, the unified approach to healthcare aims to use an inter-department policy and coordination approach to deal with serious health threats that arise from human – animal – environment interaction. The project will also develop a specific proposal for a coordination mechanism and unified approach for healthcare with the Vietnamese government, and help draft a roadmap for a unified approach. The authorities in the field of environment, people and animals of the government together with development partners, such as the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, are all participating in this project. Additionally, the project will have ten research projects with professional organisations, universities, research institutes and civil society organizations to strengthen national research ability as well as knowledge of avian flu, emerging infectious diseases and the unified approach to health care.
Vietnam is in the area of a relatively high risk of emerging infectious diseases, and the recent detection of influenza A/H7N9 virus in humans and animals in neighbouring China reflects a serious potential risk to public health and economic development. The UN calls on Vietnam to promote cooperation and coordination among sectors and institutions, in order to cope with the impact of disease on human health, safety and food security, livelihoods, economic and trade development.
In the past, the UNDP and USAID have successfully worked with the government of Vietnam on controlling API through a joint program of the UN and the Vietnamese government on avian flu (2005-2011) and the project “Support to Knowledge Management and Policy Dialogue through the Partnership on Avian and Human Influenza” (KMP – API) from 2011 to 2013.
UNDP Supports One Health Approach for Better Coordination on Avian Pandemics and Emerging Threats Related image(s)
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