Hanoi Times — Construction finished o­n a bio-safety level 3 laboratory of international standards, and it was handed over to the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology (NIHE) yesterday in Hanoi.

The nearly US$ 8 million project was funded by a Government of Japan grant through the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA). The project aims to improve emerging and re-emerging infectious disease control in Vietnam.

"It’s the most modern laboratory Vietnam has seen. Vietnam can now test dangerous viral infections like H5N1 and SARS that we used to previously send overseas for testing," said NIHE director Nguyen Tran Hien during yesterday’s ceremony.

The laboratory has 10 sub-laboratories, of which 6 are bio-safety level 2 and 4 are bio-safety level 3 (the highest level Vietnam has had).

"The laboratory will help strengthen the ability of Vietnamese health workers to detect and respond to problems early o­n – especially bird flu H5N1 and SARS – and will protect Vietnamese researchers from dangerous viruses in the work environment," said Hien.

From 2006 to 2009, JICA also helped the NIHE with another project worth US$ 2.7 million, which aims to train staff and health workers o­n how to research and test dangerous and infectious elements at the bio-safety level 3 Laboratory.