Vietnam has adopted a number of policies specifically designed forAgent Orange (AO)/Dioxin victims, supporting them with vocationaltraining and medical treatment.
Deputy Chairman andSecretary-General of the Association of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin(VAVA) Nguyen The Luc made the remarks in an interview with the VietnamNews Agency on the occasion of the 53rd anniversary of the AgentOrange catastrophe in Vietnam .
He said, however, supportingpolicies for the victims should be updated and improved regularly asonly 300,000 out of the three million people affected by the toxicchemical benefit from the incentives.
Established in January2014, VAVA now groups chapters in 59 cities and provinces with over315,000 members. It has raised more than 800 billion VND (37.8 millionUSD) in and outside of the country to repair and build houses, grantscholarships, and offer storm relief for AO victims and their families.
From1961-1971, US troops sprayed more than 80 million litres of herbicides -44 million litres of which were AO that contained nearly 370kg ofdioxin - over southern Vietnam.
As a result, around 4.8 millionVietnamese people were exposed to the toxic chemical. Many of thevictims have died, while millions of their descendants are living withdeformities and diseases due to the chemical’s effects.
On theoccasion of the Day for AO/Dioxin Victims (August 10), a wide range ofactivities have been held nationwide to assist the unfortunate.-VNA