Vietnam Starts $30M ADB-funded Infectious Disease Control Project

The Vietnamese the Ministry of Health’s Preventive Medicine Department on March 29 joined hands with the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to start the second phase worth $30 million of an infectious disease control project in the country. This is part of Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Communicable Diseases Control Project funded by the ADB, which will be carried out in the 2011-2015 period, state media reported Mar 30. Of the total, $27 million comes from the ADB and the rest from the Vietnamese side’s reciprocal capital. The project’s second phase will be expanded to 20 provinces and cities with 103 districts across the country, focusing on cutting the infections and death rate caused by such diseases, helping control dengue fever and malaria outbreaks as well as coordinating with regional countries to prevent the diseases. GMS comprises Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam. (Nong Thon Ngay Nay – Countryside Today Mar 30 p10, Dat Viet – National Land Mar 30 p6)