The Government has approved a project on helping Agent Orange/dioxin victims in the Central Highlands and Tay Ninh province in the 2011-2015 period with a total funding of 33 billion VND.

The project focuses on plastic surgeries, function rehabilitation, and home-based health care for 2,500 AO/dioxin victims, helping them improve their health and integrate into the community.

The project also covers vocational training and development of livestock breeding and production to 3,000 households.

It is also to provide training on measures to prevent birth defects relating to AO/dioxin, and train medical workers and red-cross volunteers on functional rehabilitation and health care for disabled people in the community.

On August 10, 1961, United States (US) warplanes began to spray toxic chemicals on 3 million hectares of forest, mountain and fields ­ and almost 26,000 villages in Vietnam . This caused a significant deterioration in the environment and the health of Vietnamese people.

As a result, nearly 5 million Vietnamese people were exposed to AO/dioxin, with 3 million of them, including numerous children, now suffering from AO/dioxin related health issues./.