VTC14, a Vietnamese national media outlet, recently interviewed Hung Nguyen, regional representative for East and Southeast Asia and senior scientist of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), on the current situation of zoonotic diseases and how a One Health approach could help better control these diseases.

The interview was in response to the pandemic of COVID-19, which has provoked a flurry of attention to zoonoses. The network asked if the commonly seen habits of consuming wild animal products in Vietnam and many Asian countries is the root cause of the spread of deadly viruses like corona virus.

Hung said in many Asian countries including China and Vietnam consumption of wild animal products is believed to be good for human health, which is not shown by scientific evidence. This belief contributes to the risk of emerging and spreading zoonotic diseases.

‘Interdisciplinary and inter-sectoral collaboration at different levels plays a pivotal role in strengthening the monitoring and management of zoonotic diseases’, he emphasized.

See the interview with Hung Nguyen (with English subtitle) here which was extracted from the full report