Lieutenant General Nguyen Huu Chinh, President of the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange (VAVA) for the 2023-2028 tenure, speak at the congress. (Photo: VNA) His election took place as part of the fifth VAVA Congressin Hanoi on December 28–29, during which participatingdelegates elected three vice chairpersons – Major General Do Hong Lam, Major General Nguyen Hong Son, and Colonel Pham Xuan Hung, and a 75-member executive board.
The congress also agreed that former Vice State President Nguyen Thi Binh will continue serving as the association’s honorary presidentin the new term.
In his remarks, Chinh stressed that the new-term executiveboard is fully aware of its honour and tremendous responsibility towards the Party, the State, the people and AO victims nationwide. He pledged to, together with the executive board, will build on the work of the association in previous tenures and continue to mobilise domestic and international resources to improve the material and spiritual life of AO victims.
As heard at the function, during the 2018–2023 tenure, VAVA chaptersnationwide raised more than 2.27 trillion VND (93.4 million USD) in both cashand kind. They have spent over 2.16 trillion VND on supporting AO victims,built 3,973 houses for the target group, presented 24,550 scholarships worthover 19.58 billion VND in total to children of the victims, given freecheck-ups and medicine to 644,000 people, and helped thousands of victims to secure livelihoods and seek jobs.
From 1961 to 1971, the US army sprayed more than 80 million litres ofherbicides, 44 million litres of which was AO containing nearly 370 kilogrammesof dioxin, over southern Vietnam. As a result, around 4.8 million Vietnamesewere exposed to the toxic chemical. Many of them have died while millions oftheir descendants are living with deformities and diseases as a direct resultof the chemical’s effects./.
VNA
