Advancing One Health in Vietnam: an exchange of national and international experiences

Vietnam has been addressing critical health issues such as zoonotic diseases, antimicrobial resistance, illegal wildlife trade and food safety.

The country is a leader in applying the One Health approach which highlights the connections between human, animal and environment health and emphasizes the need for coordinated efforts across sectors.

However, challenges persist in fully implementing the One Health approach, including gaps in technical expertise, difficulties with cross-sector coordination and obstacles to effective policy implementation.

Nevertheless, there is a strong commitment to overcoming these challenges, as demonstrated by the 2023 declaration of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations leaders on One Health, reflecting the determination of Southeast Asia and Vietnam to tackle these issues.

Recognizing the importance of sharing experiences to address challenges in implementation, the One Health Partnership for Zoonoses in collaboration with the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) organized a One Health scientific conference in Hanoi on 16 October 2024.

The conference was held as part of events to mark ILRI’s 50th anniversary and in preparation for One Health Day (3 November).

More than 150 attendees from 10 countries in Africa, Asia and North America joined physically and virtually to exchange experiences on the application of One Health at local and national levels and apply lessons to the Vietnam context.

Representatives included academia, the private sector, and the agriculture, health and environment sectors.

Opening remarks

In his opening remarks, Appolinaire Djikeng, director general of ILRI and co-chair of the conference, emphasized the vital role of the livestock sector in addressing and preventing zoonoses, antimicrobial resistance and food safety challenges.

He also highlighted that One Health has been a key focus of CGIAR’s food systems research, with strong partnerships in Vietnam for over a decade.

To Viet Chau, deputy director general of the Department of International Cooperation at the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development (MARD), who co-chaired the event with ILRI, stressed Vietnam’s commitment to maintaining its leadership in One Health initiatives.

He noted the central coordination role of MARD and the strong collaboration between the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment.

National and international experts from the agriculture, health and environment fields shared lessons and case studies aimed at translating global insights into practical actions for Vietnam.

Key recommendations

Key recommendations included ensuring fair funding across sectors, developing ‘use cases’ to highlight the importance of investing in One Health challenges, and promoting capacity building through experiential learning to strengthen cross-disciplinary collaboration.

Toward the end of the conference, attendees described some of the remaining gaps in One Health research in Vietnam through Mentimeter (an online polling tool):

• Policy implementation: There is a significant gap in translating research into policy and practice, including policy research, engagement and advocacy. The need for investment cases in One Health to facilitate policy advocacy was emphasized.
• Social and behavioural aspects: There is a need for further research on social behaviours of consumers and producers, behaviour change interventions and awareness strategies around One Health concepts in communities.
• Specific health and environmental topics: Topics include climate change, plant health, animal welfare, biosecurity, disease modelling, captive wildlife and disease, climate change adaptation, plant health, nutrition and nature-based solutions. Climate action is a major priority, especially following Typhoon Yagi in September 2024 – the strongest storm to hit Vietnam in 30 years – which underscores the growing impact of climate change.

Priority actions

The day before, at ILRI’s 50th anniversary celebration, attendees were asked about priorities for livestock research in Vietnam, which they said included the following:

• One Health: There was a strong focus on One Health, with special attention to zoonoses, infectious diseases and antimicrobial resistance.
• Animal health: Many participants called for prioritizing improving animal health, addressing diseases, and ensuring biosafety and biosecurity within livestock systems.
• Climate change and environment: Respondents noted concerns about climate impacts on livestock, greenhouse gas emissions, land use and sustainable production practices.
• Food safety and nutrition: Improving food safety, nutrition and productivity within livestock systems to ensure a stable food supply was a recurrent theme.
• Livelihoods and community impact: Ensuring that livestock systems support community livelihoods and improve economic outcomes.
• Policy and systems approach: A need for effective policies and a systems approach was highlighted to manage these issues collectively.
• Public–private partnerships: Some attendees pointed to collaboration between public and private sectors as vital for advancing research and practical solutions.

The discussions over the two events highlighted the urgent need for stronger connections between research, policy and practice.

There was a focus on understanding people’s behaviours, creating targeted solutions and encouraging partnerships between the public and private sectors.

In general, participants acknowledged a clear need for a coordinated approach, strong policies and teamwork to improve community well-being and support sustainable practices.

More information

• Workshop report
• Workshop proceedings
• Media report
• Conference photos

Conference recap videos

• Multisectoral cooperation to eliminate ‘gaps’ in implementing the One Health initiative
• Investing in One Health: Turning vision into action on the ground

Article by Steven Lam, Chi Nguyen, Hung Nguyen-Viet, Sinh Dang-Xuan and Fred Unger

Header photo: Over 150 participants from 10 countries with diverse sector representation came together to share One Health insights, applying lessons to Vietnam (credit: ILRI/ Tran Ngoc Son)