Activities in Vietnam

Ever since the outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) in Vietnam in 2003, emerging infectious diseases such as avian influenza have been risen. Avian influenza in particular has left considerable destruction with at least 40 confirmed dead as of 2006 and there is fear of the infection spreading in the future. An additional damage was the economic toll on small-scale farmers as avian influenza countermeasures were taken to dispose large numbers of chickens to prevent infections from spreading between livestock and from livestock to humans. These issues concern not only human health, but also cause a negative impact on Vietnam’s economy, especially the poor.

However, the government of Vietnam is currently ill-equipped to respond to the threat of these new infectious diseases and prevent their spread. When a new influenza strain emerges, widespread damage can rapidly occur in a matter of days. The government therefore needs to be able to discover mutations of the virus as soon as possible, and take action by transporting antiviral drugs and administering them to persons in affected areas. Vietnam is unable to do this, however, because they lack a laboratory to identify viral mutations, which can handle the Biosafety level (BSL) 3 (which is the biosafety level refers to pathogens risk classified by four; merging infectious diseases such as SARS and avian flu correspond to level 3). Without a BSL-3 laboratory, Vietnam has to send samples to a WHO-designated center in another country. In order to improve the health and safety of the people of Vietnam as well as the people in neighboring countries, appropriate measures must be taken promptly.

To ameliorate these circumstances, JICA cooperatively implement this project for the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE), Vietnam’s central research and testing facility for infectious disease. Under this project, biosafety regulations and systems are being created, and a management structure is being established for the operation and maintenance of BLS-3 laboratory. A technology will be transferred for the NIHE to be able to use this laboratory to test for high-risk pathogens. Moreover, the laboratory has been set up at the NIHE with grant aid and then a new testing infrastructure will be established for the laboratory.

This project is expected to contribute to Vietnam’s ability to rapidly respond to the global threat of emerging infectious diseases such as avian influenza and prevent the spread of their infection.

• Preliminary Evaluation Form
• Preliminary Evaluation Study and Implementation Discussion Report