Social protection centre for AO/dioxin victims upgraded

A ceremony was held on January 15 to mark the completion of a project to upgrade the Vietnam social protection centre for Agent Orange (AO)/dioxin victims in Hanoi’s suburban district of Thach That district.
Social protection centre for AO/dioxin victims upgraded ảnh 1Three children in a family suffer from deformities due to dioxin (Photo: VNA)
Hanoi (VNA) – A ceremony washeld on January 15 to mark the completion of a project to upgrade the Vietnamsocial protection centre for Agent Orange (AO)/dioxin victims in Hanoi’ssuburban district of Thach That district.

The project, started last August, was fundedby a 150,000 USD grant from Gyeonggi province of the Republic of Korea (RoK),through the Vietnam Environment Protection Fund of the Ministry of NaturalResources and Environment (MoNRE).

Five years since its establishment, thesocial protection centre has offered accommodation, rehabilitation and trainingfor AO/dioxin victims.

The project has repaired and built newsauna rooms to serve detoxification treatment. It also created a medicinal herbgarden spanning nearly 1,000 sq.m, and improved the landscape at the centre.

At the ceremony, representative of thesponsor Shin Myung-seob voiced his hope that the project will help to ease thepain of AO/dioxin victims in Vietnam.

For his part, Chairman of the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/dioxin (VAVA) Nguyen Van Rinhhighly valued the support of people of the RoK for AO/dioxin victims in Vietnam,adding that the project will contribute to the development of the Vietnam-RoKfriendship.

On the occasion, the VAVA Central Committeepresented the insignia “For AO/dioxin victims” and certificates of merit toindividuals and Gyeonggi province authorities in recognition of their supportfor Vietnamese AO/dioxin victims.

The US army sprayed some 80 million litresof toxic chemicals, 61 percent of which was Agent Orange containing 366kilograms of dioxin, over nearly one quarter of the total area of southernVietnam from 1961 to 1971.

Preliminary statistics showed that 4.8million Vietnamese people were exposed to AO/dioxin, and about 3 million peoplebecame victims. Tens of thousands of people have died while millions of othershave suffered from cancer and other incurable diseases as consequences ofexposure. Many of their offspring have also suffered from birth deformities./.
VNA

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