Viet Nam Veterinary Lab Scores Climb 23.5 to 61.7 in FAO Mapping

The largest gain scored by any national veterinary laboratory in Viet Nam under the FAO Laboratory Mapping Tool rose from 23.5 to 61.7 (out of 100) between 2016 and 2024, with every facility in the assessment registering net improvement and most expanding biosafety capability over the same eight-year window.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (FAORAP) has run its Regional Laboratory Capacity Building and Networking Program since 2010 across South and Southeast Asia, working with national veterinary laboratories on four stated objectives: enhancing diagnostic capacities, ensuring quality of laboratory diagnostic services, improving biosafety systems, and promoting information and experience sharing among laboratories.

What does the FAO Laboratory Mapping Tool score?

The LMT applies a standardized questionnaire to each facility and converts the responses into a profile or "map" through automatic calculations of determined scores. The 100-point rollup captures laboratory capacity, biosafety, biosecurity practices, quality management systems and human resources. FAORAP began applying the tool to Viet Nam in 2016 and has used each round since to track year-over-year change.

The 2016-to-2024 trajectory — a 38.2-point swing for the top performer — puts Viet Nam's reference network on a measurable improvement curve, FAO assessment data show.

What did the March 2026 visits evaluate?

FAO laboratory experts, supported by the project "Strengthening animal health systems for biological threat reduction in Southeast Asia," conducted on-site assessments at two reference centres in March 2026:

• National Centre for Veterinary Diagnostics No. I (NCVD1): March 9-10, 2026
• National Centre for Veterinary Diagnostics No. II (NCVD2): March 16-17, 2026

The teams reviewed laboratory capacity, biosafety and biosecurity practices, quality management systems, and staffing. According to FAO, the assessments delivered "an updated, structured overview" of each centre and pinpointed priority gaps for targeted follow-up support.

What changes for producers, vets and public health?

NCVD1 and NCVD2 serve as Viet Nam's primary reference veterinary diagnostic laboratories, feeding downstream into provincial stations and field practitioners. Capacity gains at the reference level translate into broader and faster detection of transboundary animal diseases and zoonoses — work that matters to livestock producers managing herd health, veterinary clinicians handling suspect cases, and public-health authorities operating within a One Health framework. Reinforced biosafety and biosecurity lower the risk that pathogens handled for diagnostic purposes escape containment.

How does the training component fit?

Alongside the external evaluations, FAO trainers worked with NCVD staff on self-assessment using the LMT framework. The move gives national teams the tools to keep continuous improvement on track without leaning on external survey teams in every cycle — a practical concern given the regional scope of the program and the number of facilities the network now spans.

Where does the program go next?

Future LMT cycles in Viet Nam and across Southeast Asia under the biological-threat-reduction project will indicate whether the 2016-2024 upward trajectory continues and whether internal self-assessment capacity holds once external teams scale back.