STOP Spillover in Viet Nam

“It’s been a long time for me to have a chance like this. A long trip from my home to the workshop, but I’m very happy to represent the people of Cat Tien National Park to express our concerns and expectations regarding the zoonotic disease prevention and biosafety farming for our farmers. I do hope that the STOP project will soon be implemented in our community.” – A woman in Village 2, Nam Cat Tien commune, Tan Phu District

Dong Nai stakeholders contribute to the project’s objective of reducing the risk of spillover in Viet Nam

Led by Vietnam One Health University Network (VOHUN), the STOP Spillover project conducted a number of consultative sessions with key stakeholders in order to develop an intervention plan to reduce the risk of spillover in Viet Nam. The first major milestone for this process was reached in December 2021 when the project successfully completed a stakeholder engagement workshop (outcome mapping-OM) with stakeholders. After conducting a series of consultations, a participatory OM workshop was conducted in Dong Nai province, bringing together stakeholders from national, provincial, and local levels. The first three days of the workshop targeted stakeholders from the national and provincial levels (80 participants representing various sectors such as Department of Health, Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Forestry, etc.); while the final day of the workshop targeted community-level stakeholders involved in the wildlife trade in Dong Nai (30 participants representing various sectors such as wildlife traders, slaughterers, consumers, transporters, etc.). Participants identified gaps in knowledge and barriers to address, in addition to opportunities, in order to reduce spillover risk at captive wildlife farms and within the wildlife value chain. Potential interventions and desired outcomes were also discussed among the participants.

“I have only heard that there is disease from animals to humans, but in reality, I do not know what disease and how dangerous it is. My family has been raising wildlife for many generations but has never felt sick. If there is any evidence about zoonosis, you have to train farmers so that we know how to prevent it.” – Wildlife farm owner in Vinh Cuu District

The Interventions Design and Selection Process (ISSP) was done in January 2022 as a follow-up to the OM, leveraging technical expertise from STOP Spillover’s global team to synthesize the information gathered during the OM workshop and decide on the most appropriate risk-reduction activities. Thirty-seven members of the project participated in Viet Nam’s ISSP, discussing in-depth the proposed interventions and knowledge gaps that emerged from the OM. The recommendations from Viet Nam’s ISSP and consultative meetings with USAID resulted in a proposition to conduct two risk reduction interventions and two related studies for year 2 of the project in Viet Nam. Following USAID’s approval of the work plan, the country project team, supported by members of STOP Spillover’s Resource Hubs, began the process of establishing One Health-Design Research and Mentorship (OH-DReaM) Working Groups, including developing the working group’s action plans to support the implementation of the year 2 activities. The country project team will also conduct the surveillance assessment by engaging and following up with the stakeholders who took part in this process.

“We have regular monitoring at farms and households, we can only remind them that their practice in wildlife farming is unsanitary, biosafety is not considered and needs to be changed, however, I don’t know how to guide them to change and according to what standards.” – Official at district level expressing their training needs related to spillover

“It’s been a long time for me to have a chance like this. A long trip from my home to the workshop, but I’m very happy to represent the people of Cat Tien National Park to express our concerns and expectations regarding the zoonotic disease prevention and biosafety farming for our farmers. I do hope that the STOP project will soon be implemented in our community.” – A woman in Village 2, Nam Cat Tien commune, Tan Phu District

“I hope the STOP Spillover project will provide technical guidance and experts to support farmers in building their capacity, and practice biosafety including farm location, standard facilities and waste disposal control.” – A farmer who raises deer in Hieu Liem commune, Vinh Cuu District.

- Personal protective equipment, distancing, and group size standards in this photo were consistent with local public health guidance and COVID-19 status in the specific country and time it was taken. This may not reflect best practices for all locations where COVID-19 is still spreading. -