A ceremony to inaugurate a building for Agent Orange (AO)/Dioxin victims was held in Thach That district of Hanoi on July 17.

The two-storey accommodation was constructed at a cost of nearly 9.5 billion VND (441,860 USD) and spans a total floor area of 1,300 square metres. Thirty-five of the 40 available rooms will be set aside to accommodate AO victims.

The facility is part of the project to build the centre for social protection of AO/Dioxin victims. Invested with 351 billion VND (16.3 million USD), the centre which specialises in detoxifying and rehabilitating the target group is built in two phases from 2014-2018.

Speaking at the ceremony, President of the Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA) Nguyen Van Rinh underscored the need to build centres to care and provide functional rehabilitation and vocational training for AO/Dioxin victims.

He also called on social organisations and individuals to work together to minimise the impacts of Agent Orange.

It is estimated that more than 4.8 million Vietnamese nationals were exposed to AO/dioxin. Many have died and millions of their descendants continue to suffer the effects of exposure to the chemical defoliant sprayed by US troops during the war from 1961-1971.-VNA