Speaking at a national forum on health and environment in Ho Chi Minh City on October 19, Dr Nga said ways to transmit lethal diseases such as SARS and bird flu have still remained unknown to the medical sector. He urged the medical and environment sectors to develop cooperation mechanisms to study and seek remedies for these diseases.

Dr Pham Khoi Nguyen, Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment, said Vietnam is paying the price for inadequate attention given to health and environment. He pointed out that there are many “hot spots” on environmental pollution in the country, citing “villages of cancer” recently detected in several provinces.