On June 7, USAID joined implementing partner United Nations Development Programme to launch an initiative in Can Tho city and An Giang province to build local capacities for detecting, preventing, and responding to climate change-related emerging infectious diseases. Since 2005, USAID has been supporting Vietnam in applying and developing its One Health response across the human, animal, and environmental health sectors. This new initiative represents USAID’s first One Health project in Vietnam focused at the intersection of public health and climate change. USAID plans to also launch this initiative in a third Mekong Delta province pending provincial approval.
Vietnam is one of the world’s top five most vulnerable countries to climate change and a zoonotic disease hotspot, necessitating a multisectoral approach to safeguarding public health that takes into account climate change factors.