Interviewing an animal health worker at Kim Tan Market, Lao Cai Province, Viet Nam ©FAO

This week, the FAO Emergency Center for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) in Viet Nam is conducting an assessment of the country’s animal disease surveillance system, in close collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s Department of Animal Health (DAH), and with the support from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).

The objective is to further develop animal disease surveillance capacities in Viet Nam based on input from stakeholders at different levels of the animal health surveillance system.
To do this, an evaluation team composed of epidemiologists from FAO ECTAD Viet Nam, DAH and the ECTAD Regional office for Asia and the Pacific (RAP) is using the Surveillance Evaluation Tool (SET), developed by FAO and widely used in Africa and Asia.

SET consists of a comprehensive and repeatable methodology to assess surveillance systems along 96 indicators specific to animal disease surveillance. Using information gathered from interviews with surveillance actors in the country, indicators are scored, generating graphs that can clearly highlight surveillance strengths and areas to improve. Outputs of the tool can be used by both government and development partners to guide the development of Viet Nam’s animal disease surveillance capacities in a coordinated approach.

Following the introduction meeting at DAH on 17 April 2023, the team conducted interviews in Hanoi with the Regional Animal Health Office 1 (RAHO1), the Viet Nam Veterinary Association (VVA), and the National Centre for Veterinary Diagnosis (NCVD). The team also met with representatives from the General Department of Preventive Medicine (GDPM), the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE) and the One Health Partnership secretariat to understand inter-sectoral collaboration for the surveillance of zoonotic diseases.

The team then separated into two groups, one of which travelled north to Lào Cai and Điện Biên provinces, while another went to Đắk Lắk and Lâm Đồng provinces in central highland. This was the opportunity to meet with stakeholders at different RAHOs, provincial Sub-Departments of Animal Health (SDAH), Agricultural Service Centers, as well as with animal quarantine officers, animal health workers, live animal markets workers, slaughter points managers and more. This allowed the evaluation team to truly understand the challenges and innovations of the surveillance system at all levels.

The team just returned to Hanoi and is currently analyzing the information gathered during the mission and scoring all 96 indicators of SET. Based on the results provided by the tool, they will develop an action plan to support the development of Viet Nam’s animal disease surveillance capacities. On 27 April, they will present their preliminary results to key government and development partners in Ha Noi before concluding the mission. A detailed evaluation report will follow.