Of the total funding, US$1.74 million will be allocated to post-graduate training, over US$2.56 million to technician training and nearly US$500,000 to training programmes at a local level, an official from the department said at a seminar held in Hanoi on March 27.

The programme will focus on training for community healthcare and epidemiology. It will also increase the supervisory capacity of all establishments engaging in avian influenza and SARS prevention and control.

In addition, short-term courses on mother and child health care and infectious disease prevention will be provided for preventive medicine workers at district and commune levels in target provinces.