Quantitative value chain approaches for animal health and food safety

Economic impact assessments are increasingly important in the context of animal health and food safety, although much of the existing literature does not address the broader systems context in which disease transmission takes place. In this paper, we discuss the role of system dynamics modeling in addressing the value chain impacts associated with animal health and food safety issues. System dynamics methods hold promise as a means of capturing the complex feedbacks that exist between the biology, economics, and behavioral aspects of food safety and animal health systems. We provide a proof-of-concept of this approach in the context of food safety and animal health in the smallholder pig sector of Viet Nam. Results highlight the important tradeoffs that exist between policy objectives and the costs required to achieve them

Farming systems in the sandy area of the Thua Thien Hue Province, Central Vietnam. Survey of socio-economic situation and constraints identified by farmers.

The Thua Thien Hue Province situated in Central Vietnam encompasses 5,054 km2 with a population of about 1.1 million people. The total cultivated area is 84,000 ha of which approximately 66,000 ha are soils classified as having a sandy texture. This sandy area is located along the coast and is the most densely populated of the province. The research aims at evaluating various aspects of the present situation including socio-economic aspects and farming systems on these light textured soils of this province. Using an interview-based questionnaire, a survey was conducted in villages by staff members of the Hue University of Agriculture and Forestry. Data were collected among 145 households in four districts of the coastal area of the Thua Thien Hue Province. The results show that hostile climate, poor quality of soils, lack of technical knowledge and experience in agricultural production of smallholders on sandy soils are major constraints that limit crop yields and induce a deficit in nutritive value of animal feed. Low income of farmer’s households is an obvious consequence of this unfavourable situation. Our results also indicate that the present animal and cropping systems on sandy soils of Thua Thien Hue include a high diversity of local varieties of plants and local breeds of animals. Options for possible improvement of techniques will be suggested. This research is being conducted in the framework of a Vietnam-Belgium joint project towards a sustainable agricultural development in this area, mainly through the better use of organic resources within farming systems, and by integrated pest and disease management

Clinical, epidemiological and virological features of dengue virus infections in vietnamese patients presenting to primary care facilities with acute undifferentiated fever

OBJECTIVES: To explore clinical and virological characteristics and describe the epidemiology of dengue in patients who presented with acute undifferentiated fever (AUF) at primary health centers (PHC) in Binh Thuan Province, Vietnam. METHODS: A prospective observational study was conducted from 2001 to 2006 to study the aetiology in AUF patients. Demographic and clinical information was obtained, and dengue polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and serology were performed on a random selection of patients. RESULTS: Three hundred fifty-one serologically confirmed dengue patients including 68 primary and 283 secondary infections were included in this study. In 25% (86/351) dengue virus (DENV) was detected by RT-PCR among which 32 DENV-1, 16 DENV-2, 1 DENV-3 and 37 DENV-4 were identified. The predominant dengue serotype varied by year with seasonal fluctuation: DENV-4 in 2001-2002, DENV-1 and DENV-2 from 2003 to 2006. Primary dengue was more common in children. Higher viraemia levels (P=0.010) were found in primary infections compared to secondary infections. DENV-1 infected patients had higher viraemia levels than DENV-2 (P=0.003) and DENV-4 (P<0.001) infected patients. Clinical symptoms were often seen in adults. Few differences in clinical symptoms were found between primary and secondary infection and no significant differences in clinical symptoms between the serotypes were observed. CONCLUSIONS: Our data provide insight in the epidemiology, clinical profile and virological features of mild symptomatic dengue patients who presented to PHC with AUF in Vietnam