Pham Thi Thanh Hoa (Hoa) is a talented animal epidemiology scientist from Vietnam. Her PhD thesis on the “Development of novel methodologies for the socio-economic evaluation of animal health surveillance systems: application to swine disease surveillance in Vietnam” started in early 2013. Interesting findings have already emerged from the first phase: we can now estimate which are the swine disease priorities in Vietnam.

Summary

Student’s name: Mrs. Pham Thi Thanh Hoa (Hoa)

Topic of the thesis: “Development of novel methodologies for the socio-economic evaluation of animal health surveillance systems: application to swine disease surveillance in Vietnam”

Starting date: 2013

The main objective of this project is to develop innovative tools to apprehend the social factors involved in the performances of swine disease prevention system in Vietnam in order to evaluate the efficiency of prevention systems and propose improved surveillance strategies.

The study site is in Hung Yen, a Red river delta province in Northern Vietnam.

Specific objectives:

• To describe the surveillance system of swine diseases in Vietnam
• To evaluate the impact of swine diseases in Vietnam and define a framework for swine disease prioritization
• To evaluate the economic efficiency of swine disease surveillance in Vietnam
• To make recommendations on ways for improvement of swine disease surveillance in Vietnam

Candidate’s brief curriculum:

Pham Thi Thanh Hoa (Hoa) graduated in Veterinary Medicine at Hanoi University of Agriculture, Vietnam in 1994. After graduation she worked in Thuy Phuong Pig Research Centre, National Institute of Animal Science (NIAS) as a Veterinarian/Researcher for over 10 years. She then studied a Master course in Agricultural Science, Food Security and Natural Resource Management in the Tropics and Subtropics at the University of Hohenheim, Germany, which was completed in 2005.

Since the end of 2007, Hoa has already taken part in two CIRAD projects in Vietnam: GRIPAVI (CIRAD’s Research project on the ecology and epidemiology of avian influenza and Newcastle diseases in developing countries) and REVASIA (CIRAD’s Research project for Evaluation of Avian Influenza Surveillance in South East Asia). She worked on the epidemiology and ecology as well as on the surveillance and control of Avian Influenza in Vietnam. In the meantime, she was also trained in Veterinary Epidemiology, Animal health economics, and Statistical methods in Veterinary Epidemiology by distance learning in Veterinary Epidemiology and Public Health at the University of London.

Read the interview of Hoa on her PhD thesis.