Vietnam Australia NGO Cooperation Agreement (VANGOCA)
AFAP’s VANGOGA Program is funded by AusAID to reduce dengue outbreaks, the most serious haemorrhagic fever which presents a significant threat to the health of Vietnamese communities and a leading cause of hospitalization and death among children.
The project is to improve health through increased access to safe water.
It will reduce the numbers of dengue mosquitoes; thereby reduce morbidity and mortality of dengue.
The design focuses on ensuring that the human resource base in expanded so that health and water professionals and future leaders from the southern provinces of Viet Nam will be trained in critical technologies in order to promote sustainability.
Capacity building for water and health sector professionals is a major activity with developing an evidence-based guideline for dengue risk assessment and mitigation at policy level.
 |
AFAP's VANGOCA program is working in the Mekong provinces of Long Ah, Ben Tre and Vinh Long.
Around 180,000 people at project sites and 8.5 million people living in project provinces will benefit from this dengue-safe water project.
In these pictures, collaborators are at work checking for the presence of dengue larvae |
 |
AFAP’s VANGOCA project builds on our strong working relations with our local partners in the region and their long history of implementing successful development projects over many years.
AFAP’s VANGOCA partners are:
- The Viet Nam Administration of Preventative Medicine (APM)
- The Institute Pasteur Ho Chi Minh City (IPHCMC)
- The National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE)
- Queensland Institute of Medical Research (QIMR)
- Queensland University of Technology (QUT)
Dengue Fever – Innovative Solutions to a Public Health Threat
Dengue, the most serious haemorrhagic fever, presents a significant threat to the health of Vietnamese communities and is one of the leading causes of hospitalisation and death amongst children.
Every year, thousands of cases are detected, some of which are fatal.
Collaborators checking for dengue larvae and Mesocyclops.
Working in partnership with the Viet Nam Ministry of Health, the Queensland Institute of Medical Research, the University of Queensland and the Queensland University of Technology, the partnership continues in its implementation of the innovative community-based program for controlling the Aedes aegypti mosquito.
This has been achieved through the integration of the biological agent Mesocyclops, which feeds on the larvae of Aedes aegypti, combined with social mobilisation and educational activities, providing communities with the knowledge and resources needed to effectively control dengue fever. |
|
With support from the UK Lottery Charities Board, the Phase III of the project was first implemented in the Mekong Delta region of Viet Nam in 2004, a region in which many of the poorest suffer from dengue outbreaks. During its final year the project saw excellent results, with no confirmed dengue cases detected in the two project communes, and a 98% reduction in the number of larvae by June 2007.
Attributed to the Phase III’s success is the network and commitment from project staff and community volunteers who have been and continue to be key players in mobilising community participation. With positive results for 2007, the community-based program will continue to work in the region with support from AusAID, expanding to over 12 communes in the next 3 years during Phase IV.
Through funding from the Gates Grand Challenge in Global health, AFAP, as part of an international team led by the University of Queensland, has also been engaged in finding environmentally-friendly approaches to reduce transmission of dengue viruses in their mosquito hosts by using a common and naturally occurring, harmless bacteria called Wolbachia.
The premise of the grant is to curtail the life expectancy of dengue mosquitoes so that they cannot mature sufficiently to transmit the dengue virus. Success in laboratory activities over the last year will see further investigation into the suitability of Wolbachia to induce life shortening properties into Aedes mosquitoes.
Dengue Article - as seen in Jan-Apr 2006 AusAID Focus magazine
|
