Our work in Vietnam focuses on remote rural areas where unproductive land and childhood malnutrition have a damaging impact on community health.
While Vietnam has seen significant development in recent years, particularly in urban areas, it remains a poor country, with significant poverty in remote rural areas.
One in three children is stunted as a result of poor nutrition during their formative years. With more than 60 percent of the population dependent on agriculture, access to quality agricultural inputs and extension services is critical.
While the country has some highly productive agricultural land it is in short supply and there are large portions of the country – particularly the highland regions—where the land is not productive. Not surprisingly those areas, home to many of Vietnam’s ethnic minorities, are the poorest in the country.
Veterinarians Without Borders North America/Vétérinaires Sans Frontières Amérique du Nord couldn't do the work we do without your support. Whether it's a financial donation or a donation of your time, by improving the health of animals you will be working to improve the health and quality of life for people throughout the world.
The VETS project focuses on working with our partner, IEHSD, to build their capacity to improve gender-responsive sustainable development. Based on their identified needs volunteers are recruited to work directly with staff and community members to improve their understanding of One Health and how it can be integrated into smallholder farming practices.
Working with the Thai Nguyen University volunteers will develop a curriculum to train students in animal, human and environmental health programs to set up demonstration sites within target communities. The project also focuses on improving community leave risk communication practices and improved access to animal health services.
IEHSD is an independent organization established in 2013, in cooperation with the Center of Public Health and Ecological Research at Hanoi University (CENPHER) former VWB country partner.
Through inter-sectoral cooperation and multi-disciplinary approaches such as One Health, IEHSD implements interdisciplinary research on the assessment of health risk in relation to agriculture intensification, livestock production, water and environmental sanitation, community development, food security, antimicrobial resistance, zoonotic diseases, infectious diseases and non-infectious diseases.
Josephine Mukagasana’s story shows how Community Hygiene Clubs are transforming health and confidence across rural Rwanda—empowering families to embrace handwashing, hygiene, and shared responsibility through the COHERS program’s One Health approach.
In this edition of Ask an Expert, we connected with Dr. Naima Jutha, Wildlife Veterinarian and Chief Veterinary Officer for the Government of the Northwest Territories. Based in Yellowknife, Dr. Jutha leads the Wildlife Health Program within the Department of Environment and Climate Change, monitoring and responding to emerging health threats among northern wildlife populations.
This field report from Cambodia shares the impacts observed by VWB’s Senior Program Manager, Katia Major, highlighting how the AGROW and VETS programs are empowering women, improving livelihoods, and strengthening communities through climate-smart farming, sustainable livestock and insect production, and One Health practices.
