The Viet Nam One Health Strategic Plan for Zoonotic Diseases 2016-2020

The Viet Nam One Health Strategic Plan for Zoonotic Diseases 2016-2020 is a national cross-sectoral plan. Its main objectives are to strengthen One Health capacity for the prevention and control of all zoonotic diseases; enhance preparedness for a human emergency of animal origin; apply One Health principles to limit the public health impact of current priority zoonotic diseases; building One Health capacity; One Health approaches for managing human disease emergencies of zoonotic origin; One Health approaches for managing zoonotic agents with pandemic potential that are yet to emerge; One Health approaches for managing zoonotic influenza viruses with pandemic potential; One Health approaches for managing rabies; One Health approaches for managing antimicrobial resistance; One Health approaches for managing other priority zoonotic diseases; Establishment of a new, unified, overall national steering committee; clarification of the role of the environmental health sector in One Health activities addressing zoonotic diseases; application of Circular 16/2013 on zoonotic diseases; ensuring industry, subject and discipline specialists are identified and included in One Health approaches to control and prevention of zoonotic diseases through advisory panels and networks; provision of support for the One Health Partnership including involvement in the Viet Nam One Health Partnership for Zoonoses activities organized; application of relevant provisions of Circular 16/2013; preparation of appropriate directives under the Animal Health law and consideration of extending relevant features of Circular 16 to include the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment; improve risk communication between authorities and to the public on microbial hazards emerging at the human-animal environment interface; enhance laboratory capacity and quality management systems; enhance data management systems to allow rapid analysis and sharing of new findings within and across sectors as well as across borders; conduct well designed surveillance to ensure early detection of zoonotic pathogens especially those with pandemic potential; undertake selected environmental health research aimed at understanding the drivers of disease emergence and measures to reduce risk to guide practice, for example, enhanced land use planning for the livestock sector; and complete planned work on the identification of zoonotic and potential pandemic agents in animals prior to their emergence.