A ground breaking ceremony for a project to upgrade the Vietnam social protection centre for Agent Orange (AO)/dioxin victims took place in Thach That district of Hanoi on October 10. The project is funded by a grant worth $150,000 from Gyeonggi province of South Korea, through the Vietnam Environment Protection Fund of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MoNRE). Five years since its establishment, the social protection centre has offered accommodation, rehabilitation and training for AO/dioxin victims. The project will repair four sauna rooms and build two new ones to serve detoxification treatment. Speaking at the ceremony, Chairman of the Vietnam Association for Victims of AO/dioxin Nguyen Van Rinh highly valued the support of Gyeonggi province and the MoNRE for AO/dioxin victims in the country. He voiced his hope that upon its completion, the project will meet the demand for treatment and raise the efficiency of treatment and rehabilitation for AO/dioxin victims. The project is expected to finish in late February next year. The US army sprayed some 80 million liters of toxic chemicals, 61% of which was Agent Orange containing 366 kilograms of dioxin, over nearly one quarter of the total area of southern Vietnam from 1961 to 1971. Preliminary statistics showed that 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to AO/dioxin, and about 3 million people became victims. Tens of thousands of people have died while millions of others have suffered from cancer and other incurable diseases as consequences of exposure. Many of their offspring have also suffered from birth deformities. (VOV)
