(MARD) – On September 7 2022, in Hanoi the conference summarizing the Project “Monitoring avian influenza and other common diseases from the perspective of human-animal interaction in Vietnam for the period 2017 – 2022” was organized by the Department of Animal Health in coordination with units.
The Deputy Minister of MARD spoke at the Conference summarizing the Project “Monitoring avian influenza and other common diseases from the perspective of human-animal interaction in Vietnam for the period 2017 – 2022”. Mr. Phung Duc Tien said that poultry meat production continuously increased and contributed to stabilizing the CPI basket of goods. He added that the growth rate of poultry meat production is the most obvious evidence of Vietnam’s disease prevention and control.
According to the Deputy Minister, in 2003, avian influenza A/H5N1 first appeared in Vietnam, in more than 2,000 communes, wards, and towns. The diseases caused the extermination of about 50 million poultry. From 2004 to 2014, Vietnam recorded 127 people infected, including 64 deaths (accounting for over 50%) because of influenza A/H5N1.
However, after MARD advised the Government to organize measures to prevent and control avian influenza, with hundreds of millions of doses of vaccine purchased annually, there has not been a single case of death from avian influenza since 2014. In the first eight months of 2022, the number of poultry culled because of influenza is less than 100,000.
“After eight months, the total poultry meat production is about 1.9 million tons, with stable growth of about 3.6%. Surveillance for avian influenza and other zoonotic diseases is well done. That is also the basis to increase the proportion of poultry meat to about 30-35% of the total meat production of 7.5 million tons in the coming years”, Deputy Minister Phung Duc Tien said.
In addition to raising awareness and the initiative of people and localities, leaders of MARD commented that other countries and international organizations helped Vietnam monitor avian influenza and other epidemics. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) funded one project among all the activities.
From 2017 to 2022, the US CDC funded a total of $2.68 million. Thanks to this funding, the Government can issue the National Plan for Avian Influenza Prevention and Control from 2019 to 2025 and the National Rabies Prevention and Control Program from 2022 to 2030.
Mr. Nguyen Van Long, Acting Director of the Department of Animal Health said that the project has supported and trained personnel from basic to specialized in epidemiology and disease surveillance. The project also helped with data analysis and diagnostic testing for avian influenza and rabies for more than 1,151 officials from 44 provinces and cities participating in the project.
With the positive and effective results of cooperation between CDC and Department of Animal Health over the years, on January 24, 2022, the US CDC announced that it would consider and support the Department of Animal Health to continue to develop a new project on enhancing human health. The US CDC also considers aiding the Department of Animal Health in organizing the implementation of surveillance activities for avian influenza, rabies, and other infectious diseases for five years from October 2022 to September 2027.
Source: https://www.mard.gov.vn/
