A visiting delegation from the Brazil-Vietnam Friendship Parliamentarians’ Group visited the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/dioxin (VAVA) on November 25 during which they expressed their sympathy and support for Vietnamese AO victims.
The head of the delegation, Jo Moraes, spoke highly of VAVA’s efforts and activities to ease the pains of the victims and called for further solidarity and friendship between Vietnam and Brazil as well as among people all over the world.
VAVA Vice President Nguyen The Luc expressed his hope that after the visit, the parliamentarians will raise the issue of AO/dioxin at the Brazilian parliament and help Brazilian people understand more about the pains the Vietnamese victims are suffering.
Between 1961 and 1971, US troops sprayed nearly 80 million litres of herbicides, including Agent Orange which had a dioxin content of up to 61 percent, on 3 million hectares of forest in southern Vietnam .
The largest chemical war in the history of humankind conducted by the US army exposed about 6.8 million Vietnamese people to Agent Orange/dioxin. Hundreds of thousands of them have died, while millions of other victims and their descendants are day and night struggling against diseases, the after-effects of the toxic chemical.
Vietnam annually spends about 5 trillion VND (235 million USD) on regular allowances for over 300,000 victims.
Since it was founded in 2004, VAVA, an organisation responsible for assisting AO victims and protecting their interests, has mobilsied over 900 billion VND (42.3 million USD) to build 25 nursing, functional rehabilitation and vocations training centres and 10 detoxification facilities for those affected by the toxic chemical.-VNA
