The facility has achieved accreditation to the ISO 15189 standard for all serological tests in March 2011 and molecular tests in May 2012. TAQAS accreditation by the NRL (Australia) was achieved in March 2012. The laboratory is currently being evaluated by WHO for accreditation for HIV-1 antiretroviral drug resistance testing.
Sustainability of the IVVI laboratory as a diagnostic and research facility beyond the lifetime of the IVVI programme has been a key objective from the outset. The laboratory has already established significant national and international collaborations which include;
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•National Paediatric Hospital Hanoi – American Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR): Monitoring of HIV-DR in pediatric patients
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•Bach Mai Hospital – Harvard Medical School AIDS Initiative in Vietnam (HAIVN): Monitoring of HIV-DR in Vietnam
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•Ministry of Science and Technology: HCV clearance and IL28B polymorphism in Vietnam
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•AIDS Research Center, National Institute of Infectious Diseases (NIID), Tokyo, Japan: Evolution of HIV and development of T cell based vaccines in Vietnam.
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•Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University, Japan: HIV-1 tropism and transmission of HIV-1 in discordant heterosexual couples in Vietnam
Future focus of IVVI will be to:
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•Co-ordinate IVVI activities with other international efforts including WHO
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•Interact with public health colleagues to advise and inform BBV related public health policies
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•Place IVVI as centre of excellence for diagnostic virology services, training and research in Vietnam
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•Extension of the diagnostic and research capacity to other viruses eg. arboviruses which are of importance in Vietnam.
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•Establish focused training programmes at the IVVI for colleagues from other regions of Vietnam
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•Establish research programmes in virus diseases relevant to Vietnam and the geographical region
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II.To train Vietnamese scientists to a high level of expertise in diagnostic virology. see training
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III.To assess and characterise BBV infections in Vietnam through large scale nationwide epidemiological studies.
Copyright @ 2012. The IVVI Ireland-Vietnam Blood-Borne Virus Initiative.
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BBV infections continue to cause significant morbidity and mortality in Vietnam. Hepatitis B infection is endemic and it has been reported that over 8 million individuals are currently infected and living with chronic HBV infection. The IVVI was developed with 3 specific objectives aimed at improving the infrastructure and capacity in virus diagnostics and research to address the important problems of BBV infections.
The objectives of the IVVI are:
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I.To establish an internationally accredited sustainable laboratory in clinical and diagnostic virology.
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II.To train Vietnamese scientists and physicians to a high level of expertise in diagnostic virology.
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III.To assess and characterise BBV infections in Vietnam through large scale nationwide epidemiological studies.
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I.To establish an internationally accredited sustainable laboratory in clinical and diagnostic virology.
A state of the art facility has been constructed on the grounds of NIHE in Hanoi. This building (IVVI Building) contains serological and molecular suites which are purpose built and equipped with specialised instrumentation required for diagnosis of viral infections and for research. The molecular laboratory has the capacity to perform both commercial and “in house” laboratory developed tests (see studies) to monitor changes in virus plasma concentrations (viral load) and to detect the emergence of antiviral drug resistance and to identify specific virus subtypes and mutants.
The IVVI facility is now an integral part of NIHE and recently this was named the Laboratory of Molecular Diagnostics to reflect this expertise.
IVVI Building, Hanoi
