Illustrative image (Photo: Internet) Sydney (VNA) – Australia’s Department
of Foreign Affairs and Trade will fund a 4.3 million AUD (2.8 million USD) project training a group of “animal disease
detectives” in 11 countries and territories in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, including Vietnam.
According to Associate Professor
Navneet Dhand from the University of Sydney’s and School of Veterinary
Science, the majority of emerging infectious diseases, such as coronaviruses,
are zoonotic diseases.
Transferred from animals to humans, zoonotic
diseases are increasing in frequency due to a range of factors, including population
growth, urbanisation, human encroachment into wild habitats, and increasing global
air travel, he said.
In order to protect humans from such diseases,
he emphasised the need to look for pathogens and disease in domestic animals and
wildlife before they spread to the human population.
The programme will develop the capacity
for early intervention in the investigation and management of animal disease outbreaks
in the Asia-Pacific region, helping to halt the spread of trans-boundary diseases./.
Source: VietnamPlus
