The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) has recently approved a grant of over 8 million USD for the construction of a Biosafety Level 3 laboratory at the Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology.
Phase one of the project has commenced. By June 2006 at the latest, the first international standard mobile Biosafety Level 3 laboratory in Vietnam will be inaugurated.
Previously, the health sector had also proposed that the government consider the establishment of two Biosafety Level 3 laboratories at the Central Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology and the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City during the years 2005-2006.
According to the proposal, each laboratory is valued at 2.5 million USD (approximately 80 billion VND) to ensure the timely preservation and research of pathogenic agents.
