The project is jointly conducted by Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE).

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Delegates at the seminar

The seminar was attended by representatives from the Department of Preventive Medicine (Ministry of Health), World Health Organization (WHO), NIHE, Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) of ten provinces and cities, and the Central Highlands Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (TIHE). 

The event also saw the attendance of Lao delegates from the National Institute of Testing and Epidemiology and the Pasteur Institute of Laos and Cambodian participants from the National Institute of Public Health, Kampong Cham Provincial Hospital. Japanese delegates from the National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID), Nagasaki University, and the National Institute of Infectious Diseases, and JICA Vietnam Office also joined the event.

The event was held in online and offline forms with two parts. In the first part, delegates reviewed the results of COVID-19 external quality assurance (EQA) jointly conducted by related units of Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia and NIID.

In the second part, the seminar summarized activities within the project over the past five years and proposed measures to solve the existing problems of the project.

Phase 3 of the project was implemented at NIHE from July, 2017 and will last until late March 2023. The project has been conducted to enhance testing and biosafety capacity of CDCs of ten provinces and cities in the North and South Vietnam; strengthen the nationwide training system at the NIHE Training Center to consolidate the laboratory network; build operation and maintenance system of level 3 biosafety laboratory at Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City.

Although the project will end in late March 2023, future cooperation between Vietnam and other countries is expected to continue to promote the results of the project.

Translated by Song Anh