The UK Space Agency's International Partnership Programme (IPP) allocates 6 million GBP for Vietnam to build an early warning system of dengue fever outbreaks, said UK Science Minister Sam Gyimah.

A medical worker is spraying chemical to prevent dengue outbreak

This is one of the ten projects funded by the UK Space Agency. 

Of the amount, 4.1 million GBP comes from official development assistance (ODA) sourced by the agency, and the rest is contributed by stakeholders.

A group of UK organisations, led by the HR Wallingford, will collaborate with Vietnamese partners to develop dengue outbreak early warning tools, thus facilitating resources mobilization and allocation for targeted areas.

Dengue forecast will also be made with different scenarios on climate change under the project. The warning system will include models to evaluate water resources, thus improving water management in border-cross river basin areas.

The project will be jointly implemented by the Health Ministry, Vietnam Institute of Meteorology, Hydrology and Climate change (IMHEN), Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City, the National Institute of Hygiene Epidemiology (NIHE), the World Health Organisation and the United Nations Development Programme.

Ambassador of the UK in Vietnam Giles Lever said the project will foster the cooperation between the UK and Vietnam in science, research and creativeness.

Via the Newton Vietnam Fund, the UK is providing assistance for new cooperation study projects joined by Vietnamese and English scientists in many fields, including agriculture and community health, he added.

The UK’s Fleming Fund is also offering help to Vietnam to implement the national action plan on antibiotics resistance prevention.

Dengue fever has become one of the serious problems for the community health, particularly following the surge in dengue fever cases in 2017.

Last year, 183,287 cases of dengue fever were reported nationwide, mostly in the south and the north, including 154,552 hospitalised patients and 30 deaths.

This is the second IPP-funded project in Vietnam. The programme provided 2.5 million GBP for a project on natural disaster adaption in Vietnam in 2016.-VNA