FAO Viet Nam’s Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) programme organized two rabies training courses in Phu Tho and Thai Nguyen provinces from the 3rd to the 14th of September 2014 to enhance the local capacity of animal and public health experts and ensure the effectiveness of the rabies prevention and control program in the field. The “training of trainers” courses brought provincial, district, and commune animal and public health officers together under the One Health context as featured in Department of Animal Health - Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (DAH-MARD) Circular 16.

The objectives of the training workshop were to equip field professionals with dog capture and vaccination skills, and to improve their technical understanding about rabies, so participants are better prepared to explain rabies prevention and control information to dog owners and local communities. Trainers also emphasized the importance of vaccinating at least 70% of dogs to ensure a lower number of human rabies cases. The training also aimed to establish an integrated bite case management program to improve communication and coordination between the animal and the public health sector.

ECTAD Viet Nam and the Department of Animal Health-MARD invited technical experts and training specialist from ECTAD Indonesia and the Government Animal Health and Livestock Services in Gianyar district, Bali. They shared their success stories and lessons learned based on their successful rabies eradication program in Bali. Vietnamese participants also had a chance to practice dog catching and vaccination in the field with the Indonesian “A-team”, the best Indonesian dog catchers and vaccinators.

According to FAO’s rabies assessment mission in 2013, Viet Nam has high number of unvaccinated dogs and low public awareness about rabies prevention and the importance of responsible dog ownership. The mission also showed that a significant number of people are not receiving post exposure prophylaxis either due to low risk perception associated with being bitten by a dog or poor access to vaccines. In order to improve the rabies situation in Viet Nam, ECTAD Viet Nam is continuing to provide technical and financial support to the Vietnamese government.