One Health SARS-CoV-2 surveillance at the Human-Animal-Environment Interface in Viet Nam

Organisation: Wildlife Conservation Society

Partner organisations: WHO, Health Security Partners, The department of Animal Health, Viet Nam Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, The Provincial Forest Protection Departments of Nghe An and Dong Nai Provinces, The Sub-Department of Animal Health of Nghe An and Dong Nai Provinces, Pu Mat and Cuc Phuong National Parks, The Institute of Ecology and Biological Resources, The regional Animsal Health Office No. 6, The National Center for Veternary Diagnostics

Country/Region: Viet Nam

Project Period: Jan 2022 - up to now

The project will build the Department of Animal Health’s (DAH) surveillance capacity through engagement of provincial sub-DAH agencies and regional laboratories in sample collection and testing from wildlife farms. Involving wildlife management agencies will enhance the current surveillance network, which supports the implementation of surveillance activities, managing, analyzing, and communicating data and results for SARS-CoV-2 surveillance in Viet Nam. The flexible web-basd Wildlife Health Intelligence Platform (WHIP) database, adapted for wildlife health surveillance data in Southeast Asia during the WildHealthNet project (2019-2022), will be used for data management. transferring information on events with positive cases to Viet Nam Animal Health Information Managemnt System (VAHIS), an online animal disease reporting system managed by DAH, will be enacted to maximize disease outbreak monitoring and management. The surveillance team will review and evaluate general farm hygiene, and feedback shared with related stakeholders and partners for improving and refining surveillance guidance based on lessons learned after the “data review and sharing” process.

Photo Credit: ‘Civet on Wildlife Farm’ by WCS Viet Nam