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ILRI East and Southeast Asia Newsletter
July–December 2017

Institutional meetings/events


ILRI assistant director general visits Beijing joint lab 
The Beijing joint lab on Livestock and Forage Genetic Resources within the Institute of Animal Sciences, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (IAS-CAAS) hosted a visit by Dieter Schillinger, assistant director general of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), on 17 October 2017. He met with Jie Wen, deputy director general of IAS-CAAS to discuss opportunities for strengthening the research partnership between ILRI and IAS-CAAS. A new lab with state-of-the-art facilities was just built in the city to continue serving the research platform by building biotechnology as well as genetics research capacity in the region. An agreement to extend operations of the joint lab was signed on 22 November 2017.

Vietnam agriculture officials and CGIAR draw up priorities for joint research in 2018-2020  
On 27 October 2017, the Vietnam Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development and CGIAR discussed research objectives and development plans for the country’s agricultural sector, including possible areas of cooperation for 2018-2020. Read more

Contributions of Southeast Asia’s livestock sector to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals
More than 60 livestock experts from 7 Southeast Asian countries met to explore new opportunities for bringing the countries and agencies of Southeast Asia together in productive joint actions to focus on the highest priorities of the livestock sector. They participated in the Science and Partnership Workshop 2017 on ‘The role of livestock in the 2030 Agenda for sustainable development in Southeast Asia,’ which was held 16 November 2017 in Hanoi, Vietnam.  Read more

ILRI signs agreements with partners from Laos and Cambodia   
On 17 November 2017, Jimmy Smith, director general of ILRI signed memorandums of understanding (MoU) with the National University of Laos and two partners from Cambodia – the National Animal Health and Production Research Institute and the Centre for Livestock and Agriculture Development – to start formal collaboration between them and ILRI to strengthen livestock research for development in Southeast Asia.

Project meetings/events 

Hanoi workshop on providing safer pork products 
Pork makes up 75% of the meat consumed in Vietnam. Most of it comes from small-scale farmers, through traditional open markets. Ensuring its safety is a matter of growing public interest. This workshop brought together more than 80 key stakeholders and launched a new project called ‘SafePork’ which is funded by the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research. Read more

New project to strengthen food safety in Cambodia
A new initiative to improve food safety in Cambodia, known as Safe Food, Fair Food for Cambodia project, was launched in Phnom Penh on 29 September 2017. Read more

One Health research partnership on food safety in Laos 
A visit was conducted by Fred Unger and Hung Nguyen, ILRI’s scientists on 18-19 December 2017 to Champasak province (Southern Laos) and Vientiane as part of new research on food borne diseases and partnership between ILRI and the National University of Laos. The research results are expected to be released in March 2018. Courtesy visits to the National University of Laos and the National Agriculture and Forestry Research Institute of Laos will be used as the basis to further identify and prioritize research topics on food safety under the CGIAR research programs on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH) and Livestock Agri-food Systems.

Vietnam-based project to design key maps and tools for managing climate-sensitive diseases n in livestock research 
On 22 December 2017 animal and human health experts gathered in Hanoi to discuss ways of disseminating the findings and recommendations of a ‘Surveillance and early-warning systems for climate-sensitive diseases in Vietnam and Laos’, or Pestforecast project. Read more
 

Capacity development

Tata Trusts team visit to ILRI Vietnam opens door for cooperation in pig production 
A study tour from 24–30 July 2017 by nine project officers from Tata Trusts (India) provided a unique opportunity for the Tata Trusts team to interact with researchers in Vietnam to strengthen pig production in the two countries. Read more

University of Melbourne students learn use of One Health approaches from ILRI researchers  
A group of students from the University of Melbourne, School of Veterinary Sciences participated in a two-week internship with ILRI in Vietnam to learn about the use One Health approaches in livestock and food safety research, policy, and practice. Read more

Scoping visit of  researchers from University of Sydney to SafePork study sites 
Two key researchers and new partners under the ‘SafePork’ project from the University of Sydney, School of Veterinary Science, visited project sites and met with local authorities to better understand the pork sector in Vietnam.

ILRI-China joint lab trains students from Iran and Pakistan 
The IAS CAAS-ILRI Beijing joint lab hosted Mostafa Rafiepour from the Agricultural Biotechnology Research Institute of Iran (from June to September 2017) and Qurat ul Ain Hanif, from the
Environmental Biotechnology Division, National Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering, Faisalabad, Pakistan (since September 2017 till now). Rafiepour was trained in the ‘Genomic characterization of indigenous Iranian buffaloes’, and Hanif has been working on a collaborative project on ‘Identification and characterization of genetic molecular markers in economically important traits in indigenous cattle breeds in Pakistan’. Both are supported by the National Natural Science Foundation project on buffalo genome which is jointly led by China Agricultural University and ILRI.
Project proposals
  • Metropolitan mosquitoes: Understanding urban livestock keeping and vector-borne disease in growing tropical cities, funded by Swedish Link Research (2018-2021)
  • Man’s best friend: A cross-border transdisciplinary One Health approach to rabies control in dogs in Southeast Asia, funded by Swedish Link Research (2018-2020)
  • Safer indigenous pork and healthier ethnic minorities in Vietnam through better management of parasitic pig-borne diseases, funded by BMZ, Germany (2018- 2019)
  • New grant from the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) for the CAAS-ILRI joint lab in China (2018-2020)
  • The alfalfa genome research, funded by CGIAR and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (2018-2022)
  • The chicken coccidiosis genetic resistance research, funded by CGIAR and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NFSC) (2018-2022)
Foreword

It is my pleasure to introduce to you the July-December 2017 issue of the ILRI East and Southeast Asia newsletter. We hope to share a newsletter with you every six months to give you, our donors, partners and colleagues, timely updates on our ongoing research activities, news and events in the region. These are short highlights and readers can find out more information on the links provided. I hope you will enjoy reading it and thank you for your strong support to ILRI East and Southeast Asia.

Please see more details in the flyer describing ILRI’s regional program, and on ILRI’s regional webpage. If you have any feedback, please contact ilri-vietnam@cgiar.org.

Hung Nguyen-Viet,

ILRI Regional Representative for East and Southeast Asia
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More news from the region:
Staffing

Karl Rich was appointed principal scientist starting in August 2017. He is based in the Hanoi office.

Xinzheng Jia joined ILRI in China as a postdoctoral researcher in August 2017.
 
Nguyen Tien Thang and Pham Thanh Long were appointed PhD graduate fellows for the ‘Metropolitan mosquitoes’ project starting in January 2018.
 

Recent publications

 Dang-Xuan, S., MacDonald, L.E., Schurer, J.M., Nguyen-Viet, H. and Pham-Duc, P. 2017. Household exposure to livestock and health in the CHILILAB HDSS Cohort, Vietnam. Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health 29(5S): 72S–83S.
 
Kouamé, P.K., Nguyen-Viet, H., Dongo, K., Zurbrügg, C., Biémi, J. and Bonfoh, B. 2017. Microbiological risk infection assessment using QMRA in agriculture systems in Côte d’Ivoire, West Africa. Environmental Monitoring and Assessment 189: 587
 
Rich, K.M., Dizyee, K., Huyen N.T.T., Ha D.N., Hung P.V., Nga N.T.D., Unger, F. and Lapar, M.L. 2017. Quantitative value chain approaches for animal health and food safety. Food Microbiology.
 
Ngan T.T., Dang-Xuan, S., Unger, F., Barot, M., Nguyen-Viet, H., Hung P.V., Grace, D. and Pham-Duc, P. 2017. Exposure assessment of Salmonella related to pork handling and consumption at households in Hung Yen and Nghe An provinces. Vietnam Journal of Public Health 4(2): 26–33.
 
Naqvi, A.N., Bukhari, J.F., Vahidi, S.M.F., Utsunomiya, Y.T., Garcia, J.F., Babar, M.E., Han, J.L., Pichler, R. and Periasamy, K. 2017. Microsatellite based genetic diversity and mitochondrial DNA D-Loopvariation in economically important goat breeds of Pakistan. Small Ruminant Research 148: 62–71.
 
Pham, G., Lam, S., Dinh-Xuan, T. and Nguyen-Viet, H. 2018. Evaluation of an ecohealth approach approach to public health intervention in Ha Nam, Vietnam. Journal of Public Health Management & Practice 24 (2): Supp. 36–43.
 
Periasamy, K., Vahidi, S.M.F., Silva, P., Faruque, M.O., Naqvi, A.N., Basar, M., Cao, J. H., Zhao, S. H., Thuy, L.T., Pichler, R., Podesta, M.G., Shamsuddin, M., Boettcher, P., Garcia, J.F., Han, J.L., Marsan, P.A., Diallo, A. and Viljoen, G.J. 2017. Mapping molecular diversity of indigenous goat genetic resources of Asia. Small Ruminant Research 148: 2–10.
 
Thuy, L.T., Binh, D.V., Binh, N.T., Minh, L.Q., Thuy, T.T., Ton, N.D., Ba, N.V., Han, J.L., and Periasamy, K. 2017. Evaluation of genetic diversity and structure of Vietnamese goat populations using multi locus microsatellite markers. Small Ruminant Research 148: 43–50.
Lee, H. S., Nguyen-Viet, H., Lee, M., Duc, P. P. and Grace, D. 2017. Seasonality of viral encephalitis and associated environmental risk factors in Son La and Thai Binh provinces in Vietnam from 2004 to 2013. The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 96(1): 110–117.
 
Lee, H. S., Lindahl, J., Nguyen-Viet, H., Khong, N.V., Nghia, V.B., Xuan, H.N. and Grace, D. 2017. An investigation into aflatoxin M 1 in slaughtered fattening pigs and awareness of aflatoxins in Vietnam. BMC Veterinary Research 13(1): 363.
 
Minh, H. V., Dung, D. V., Nguyen-Viet, H and Sankoh, O. 2017. Health and health care transitions in Vietnam: Evidence from the CHILILAB Health and Demographic Surveillance System (CHILILAB HDSS). Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health Vol. 29 (5S): 6S –8S.
 
Silva, P., Dematawewa, C.M.B., Kurukulasuriya, M., Utsunomiya, Y. T., Garcia, J, F., Pichler, R., Thiruvenkadan, A. K., Ramasamy, S. Han, J.L., Periasamy, K. 2017. Genetic diversity analysis of major Sri Lankan goat populations using microsatellite and mitochondrial DNA D-loop variations. Small Ruminant Research 148: 51-61.
 
Luu, Q. T., Nguyen, M. H., Nguyen-Viet, H., Pham, G., Dinh-Xuan, T., MacDonald, L.E. and Pham-Duc, P. 2018. Community participatory interventions to improve farmer knowledge and practices of household biogas unit operation in Ha Nam Province, Vietnam. Journal of Public Health Management & Practice 24 (2): 28–35.
 
He, X., Chen, X., Zhang, W., Pu, Y., Song, S., Han, J.L., Dong, K., Zhao, Q., Guan, W., Ma, Y. and Jiang, L. 2017. High occurrence of length heteroplasmy in domestic Bactrian camel (Camelus bactrianus). Mitochondrial DNA Part A 28: 851–854.

Zhao, Y.X., Yang J., Lv, F.H., Hu, X.J., Xie, X.L., Zhang, M., Li, W. R., Liu, M. J., Wang, Y.T., Li, J. Q., Liu, Y.G., Ren, Y.L., Wang, F., Hehua, E., Kantanen, J., Lenstra, J. A., Han, J.L. and Li, M.H.  2017. Genomic reconstruction of the history of native sheep reveals the peopling patterns of nomads and the expansion of early pastoralism in East Asia. Mol Biol Evol. 34(9): 2380–2395.

 

Upcoming events

CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture for Nutrition and Health (A4NH) planning and management committee meeting, 21–23 March 2018, Hanoi

If you are interested in any coming events please contact ilri-vietnam@cgiar.org