USAID, FAO Support Vietnam in $2.1M Project on Containing Pandemic Threats

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) on September 16 signed an agreement to fund $2.1 million to a project aimed at mitigating threats of animal-to-human disease transmission in Vietnam to be carried out with technical support from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). As part of the project titled “Emerging Pandemic Threats 2 (EPT2): Risk Mitigation and Management of Human Health Threats along Animal Value Chains,” FAO Vietnam and the local government will join hands to make both livestock and local people safer from potential diseases. The four main components of the project include (i) One Health Mechanisms and Collaboration; (ii) Disease Risk Reduction Along Livestock Value Chains from Farms to Chopsticks; (iii) Surveillance for Disease Prevention and Control; and (iv) Cross-border collaborations in the Lower Mekong and Red River Deltas to Prevent Disease Spread. While this project focuses largely on disease prevention and control, it will also contribute to food safety, food security and improved livelihoods for livestock farmers, FAO said on its website. “Our new project will be built upon a long standing successful Avian Influenza emergency response program previously implemented by the ECTAD country team and they will once again play an important role in carrying out FAO collaboration and support in Vietnam,” stated Mr. Jong Ha Bae, the Country Representative of FAO Vietnam. “Past collaborations between the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and FAO have resulted in drastically reducing the impacts of avian influenza virus on poultry and people by improving capacity to detect and respond to avian influenza,” said Dr. Scott Newman, the Senior Technical Coordinator of FAO Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) Vietnam, stressing the need for a fundamentally sustainable approach to fight against avian influenza and other livestock and zoonotic transboundary diseases. (Quan Doi Nhan Dan – The People’s Army Sept 17 p4, Thoi Bao Kinh Te – Economic Times Sept 17 p3, Thoi Bao Kinh Doanh – Business Times Sept 17 p8, fao.org Sept 16)