The “Stand Tall Vietnam” Milk Fund donated 54,000 glasses of milk, worth 500 million VND (23,400 USD), to children affected by Agent Orange in northern Thai Binh province on December 21.

The amount of milk for 3-month use will be handed over by the Vietnam Children Sponsor Fund (VCSF) under the Ministry of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs and Vietnam Dairy Products Joint Stock Company (Vinamilk) to schools, care centres for children with disabilities, and families of Agent Orange children in the province.

During the event, VCSF also presented 50 gifts, worth 1 million VND (47 USD) each, for 50 Agent Orange children living under difficult circumstances.

Minister of Labour, Invalids and Social Affairs Pham Thi Hai Chuyen highly spoke of the programme that has been offering free milk for disadvantaged children since 2008 to help improve those kids’ health and mentality nutritionally.

She also expressed her hope that Vinamilk will continue its commitment to social responsibility and running this programme in years ahead.

Founded in 2008, the “Stand Tall Vietnam” Milk Fund has to date provided over 310,000 children from disadvantaged background nationwide with 23 million glasses of milk at a cost of 84 billion VND (3.9 million USD).

Thai Binh province has recorded 30,000 people who were exposed to Agent Orange, and over 5,200 offspring of Agent Orange victims who are living under difficult circumstances.

Agent Orange, which had a dioxin content of up to 61 percent, is among nearly 80 million litres of herbicides sprayed on southern Vietnam by the US troops during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971.

The toxic chemical killed h undreds of thousands of those exposed and left million others and their descendants struggling against the after-effects day and night.-VNA