Vietnam pledges to prevent zoonotic diseases

 As one of the leading countries in the Global Health Security Agenda (GHSA), Vietnam pledges to take drastic action and be actively involved in prevention and combat against emerging epidemics, especially zoonotic diseases, as stipulated in the GHSA. 

 

The conference looks towards enhancing collaboration among nations in battling diseases and devising action plans with specific goals in each country to promote the effective minimisation and prevention of zoonotic diseases.

 

During the two-day event, participants will focus on sharing experience and challenges in zoonotic disease prevention and control, and discussing opportunities for regional and global co-operation in dealing with the issues.

 

Addressing the conference, Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Vu Van Tam stressed that zoonotic disease prevention requires multi-sectoral collaboration between the systems of supervision and response to diseases, and between the health sector and veterinary and agriculture sectors.

 

Co-operation among nations in the region and around the world is also needed to prevent zoonotic diseases from spreading on a global scale, Tam said.

 

The world has seen outbreaks of many fast spreading dangerous epidemics with high mortality rates in recent years, which are transmitted from animals to humans, including H5N1 avian influenza, SARS, Ebola, MERS-CoV, rabies and others, posing a huge threat to public health and damaging the economies and security of countries around the world.

 

A total of 44 nations pledged to participate in the GHSA in 2014 with 11 plans of action, including a plan on zoonotic disease prevention and control. Vietnam has been an official member of the GHSA since January 2014, joining Indonesia to preside over the action plan on prevention against zoonotic diseases.

 

(Source: nhandan.org.vn)