Hanoi launches pilot project for rabies prevention and support for dog and cat meat trade transition

The agreement was signed at a conference on August 7 in accordance with Hanoi City People's Committee cooperation programme.

The event was conducted, marking an important milestone in the capital's sustainable development strategy, aimed at protecting community health, promoting sustainable economic development, and ensuring companion animal welfare.

The programme reflects Hanoi's policies and orientation in strengthening protection of animals closely bonded with humans such as dogs and cats, marking a positive transformation in management approaches and treatment methods aligned with modern societal development trends and international practices.

This cooperation action plan establishes a framework for implementing disease prevention measures, with focus on rabies prevention – an issue affecting community health. The project emphasises raising community awareness about the connection between rabies and dog and cat meat trading activities, while supporting trading households in transitioning to safe, sustainable livelihood models that provide stable income. The project contributes significantly to achieving the national strategic goal of eliminating human rabies deaths by 2030. This is also the first time this model has been implemented in a major city in Vietnam.

"The city always places people's health and safety first, especially in rabies prevention work and addressing issues arising from dog and cat meat trading activities. This cooperation plan will create strong momentum for activities the city is implementing, helping achieve higher effectiveness in community health protection work," said Nguyen Dinh Dang, director of Hanoi Department of Livestock, Fisheries and Veterinary Medicine.

"The project's ultimate goal is to achieve zero human rabies deaths and transform livelihoods related to dog and cat meat trading activities to ensure community health and rabies-related safety. We highly value Hanoi's determination and commitment in addressing these challenges. Soi Dog Foundation will accompany Hanoi Department of Agriculture and Environment to create sustainable solutions that benefit both humans and animals," said Rahul Sehgal, international communications director of Soi Dog Foundation.

The cooperation plan focuses on key activities including enhancing effectiveness of dog and cat population management to reduce stray and ownerless dogs and cats, providing professional training for veterinary staff and disease management, improving capacity and effectiveness of stray dog catching operations, implementing community education and communication programmes about rabies hazards, along with supporting career transition for dog and cat meat trading households.

These collaborative efforts contribute to realising the vision of building Hanoi into a civilised, modern, safe and internationally integrated city.

"The comprehensive and multi-dimensional approach in this cooperation plan encompasses all necessary aspects for successful project implementation – from community health protection, behavioural change education and communication to sustainable business model transformation and public participation. This overall strategy ensures Hanoi will achieve its set objectives while creating new standards for urban community health protection initiatives nationwide," said Bui Duyen, director of Social and Behaviour Change Communication for Sustainable Development Vietnam (SBCC Vietnam), the project implementation partner in Vietnam.

With Hanoi implementing this pilot project, the cooperation model is expected to become valuable experience that can be scaled up to other localities in Hanoi and nationwide. The project demonstrates practical effectiveness in proactive efforts to implement community health protection measures and support transition to civilised business models, for the common benefit of society and the country's sustainable development.

VNATV hosts landmark policy dialogue on dog and cat meat trade Vietnam National Assembly Television (VNATV) broadcast a groundbreaking policy dialogue on December 3 addressing the urgent need to eliminate Vietnam's dog and cat meat trade.

Parliamentary handbook launched to transform animal welfare in Vietnam A parliamentary handbook titled "National Assembly deputies with the improvement of policies and laws on animal protection" was launched on April 2 to improve the legal framework for animal management, especially for companion animals such as dogs and cats.

Vietnamese youth speak out against dog and cat meat trade An award ceremony for a competition to highlight the dangers of rabies within the dog and cat meat trade took place in Hanoi on April 29, organised by Thanh Nien Magazine in partnership with the Vietnam Social and Behaviour Change Communication for Sustainable Development and the Soi Dog Foundation.