Ha Noi, Viet Nam. The Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Viet Nam co-organized a poultry value chain workshop with the Department of Livestock Production (DLP) and the Department of Animal Health (DAH) within the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD). This workshop provided information about Viet Nam poultry value chains and aimed at identifying future steps to make Viet Nam poultry production and trade safer and healthier for people working within these value chains and consumers purchasing the poultry.

During the workshop, FAO presented the study results that profiled major live bird market and slaughterhouses in northern Viet Nam and characterized locations along the value chains where poultry diseases including influenza viruses have the greatest chance to mix, amplify and spread.  Locations and management interventions that would minimize the public health risk for exposure to zoonotic diseases such as highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 (HPAI H5N1) or influenza A/H7N9 were also identified.

Additionally, studies considering the perspective and opinions of direct stakeholders such as farmers, poultry collectors, traders, or slaughterhouse owners were featured providing a new approach to making poultry value chains safer. A final presentation featured how Ho Chi Minh (HCM) city has transitioned away from live bird markets to slaughterhouse processing and sales of poultry since 2005 to prevent further human health risks from influenza viruses and to improve food safety. The process included establishing a roadmap, timeline and legislation to ensure success.

“The transition from live bird markets to slaughterhouses in HCM City is foreseen as a model to follow for other large scale poultry value chains associated with major cities in Viet Nam. These types of changes will result in safer, healthier poultry for consumers and reduce the risk for zoonotic disease transmission to consumers and stakeholders working along the value chain” said Scott Newman, the Senior Technical Coordinator of FAO ECTAD Viet Nam Program.

According to an FAO risk assessment, current Northern Viet Nam poultry value chains have a high risk of virus transmission among poultry due to their complexity and a high connectivity between markets facilitated by poultry trader movements Therefore, simplifying value chains, improving infrastructure, regulations and practices at markets and slaughterhouses, as well increasing the number of poultry going to slaughterhouses instead of LBMs along the “farm to chopsticks” value chain are important opportunities to make Viet Nam safer from HPAI H5N1, H7N9 viruses, and  other diseases.

In 2015, under a new Emerging Pandemic Threats 2 (EPT-2) project funded by the United States Agency of International Development (USAID), FAO ECTAD Viet Nam will work with MARD and other partners to advocate for safer poultry value chains and facilitate policy dialogue forums to further prepare risk mitigation strategies against avian influenza in Viet Nam.

* What is a poultry value chain?
Poultry value chain can be defined as a series of activities required to bring a product from producers (live broilers, eggs, etc.) to final consumers.