Hai Phong, Viet Nam. Leaders from three Government agencies, the United Nations and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH) launched a three-day meeting in Hai Phong today to strengthen collaboration on human-animal-environment health at all levels.

The National Bridging Workshop, held for the first time in Viet Nam, brings together stakeholders in the fields of human, livestock, wildlife and environmental health.

The health of humans and animals is closely linked. Many diseases that jump from animals to humans (zoonoses) can be transmitted through direct contact, food or the environment. To protect health, food security and economic development, Viet Nam needs to enhance the interactions of agencies working on the health of people, animals and the environment. This National Bridging Workshop aims to strengthen links between all these sectors.

The Ministry of Health (MOH) is hosting the event in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD), Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment (MONRE), Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), World Health Organization (WHO) and WOAH, with financial support from United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Australian Aid (AusAID).

Since 2003, Viet Nam has experienced serious human and economic impacts from zoonoses including SARS and avian influenza, as well as agricultural losses from livestock diseases, such as African Swine Fever, estimated at over one billion US dollars.
The Government of Viet Nam uses a “One Health” approach, bringing together a wide range of agencies from multiple sectors, to manage these threats. The General Department of Preventive Medicine at MOH, in collaboration with the Department of Animal Health at MARD, requested WHO, FAO, UNEP and WOAH to support Viet Nam to conduct a National Bridging Workshop. The workshop is an opportunity for human, animal and environmental services to review gaps in their current collaboration and cooperation and develop a joint roadmap of corrective measures and strategic investment. This would improve work at the animal-human-environment interface to prevent, detect and control zoonotic diseases.

The workshop creates a bridge between WHO’s International Health Regulations (IHR) and the Performance of Veterinary Services (PVS) pathways from WOAH, allowing different sectors in Viet Nam to increase awareness and understanding of these international monitoring and evaluation tools, discuss their differences and connections, and develop a roadmap of priority areas of joint actions by establishing specific objectives and activities to strengthen collaboration.