Scene at a ceremony to hand over a charity house to a family of AO/dioxin victims in Can Tho (Photo: baocantho.com.vn) Can Tho (VNA) – The Association of Victims of AgentOrange/Dioxin of the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho spent over 3 billion VND(129,000 USD) in the first quarter of this year to support the victims andtheir families.
The information was released at a working session betweenrepresentatives of the association and the municipal People’s Committee, whichtook place on May 3.
As heard at the function, during the period, the sum wasused to build and upgrade 20 charity houses, aid five families with capital to setup businesses, and present over 4,000 gifts to the victims. The associationalso organised free health checkup events and granted scholarships in supportof the group.
To date, nearly 4,000 AO/Dioxin victims, or 90 percent ofthe total living in Can Tho, have been benefiting from the Government’spreferential policies.
In the coming time, the association said it will step upsurvey activities toward the group to come up with suitable assistance plansannually. It will mobilise all social resources to increase the total municipalfund for the group to at least 5 billion VND, with support activities set tofocus on building charity houses and boosting vocational training andproduction capital aid.
The association unveiled that by the end of this year, itwill work with competent agencies to repair and expand a care centre for thevictims of the city, which is estimated to cost nearly 2 billion VND.
It also plans to collaborate with the municipal Departmentof Culture, Sport and Tourism to organise exhibitions on the impact of thewartime toxic on Vietnam and on the country’s work to alleviate suchconsequences.
The US army sprayed some 80 million litres of toxic chemicals,61 percent of which was Agent Orange containing 366 kilograms of dioxin, overnearly one quarter of the total area of South Vietnam from 1961 to 1971.
Preliminary statistics show that 4.8 million Vietnamesepeople were exposed to Agent Orange/dioxin, and about 3 million people becamevictims. Tens of thousands of people have died while millions of others havesuffered from cancer and other incurable diseases as consequences of exposure.Many of their offspring have also suffered from birth deformities.
Can Tho city is home to around 4,500 AO/dioxin victims,including 1,200 who cannot take care of themselves, and over 600 children agedunder 16.-VNA
VNA
