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Nearly VND8.4 billion is pooled to support Agent Orange victims in Ho Chi Minh City |
The Ho Chi Minh City Association of Victims of Agent Orange/dioxin yesterday held a celebratory meeting for the 62nd anniversary of the Agent Orange/dioxin disaster in Vietnam.
Vice President of Vietnam Association of Agent Orange/dioxin Victims Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong, Deputy Political Commissar of the Military Zone 7 Major General Tran Vinh Ngoc, standing deputy head of the HCMC Party Committee's Commission for Mass Mobilization Nguyen Thi Bach Mai, Director of Ho Chi Minh City Department of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs Le Van Thinh.
Major General Tran Ngoc Tho, Chairman of Ho Chi Minh City Association of Victims of Agent Orange/dioxin, said that of more than 6,000 Agent Orange victims in the southern largest city, some 1,123 children of veterans were infected with the toxic chemical sprayed by the US military during the Vietnam war.
Worse, approximately 370 people - the third and the fourth generation of veterans are affected by Agent Orange and many families have 2-3 Agent Orange victims who often have a difficult life, constant illness, and face physical and mental pain every day.
The Ho Chi Minh City Association of Agent Orange/dioxin Victims Association has cooperated with units with many activities to help Agent Orange victims such as grants of hardship allowances and money for earning a livelihood, savings books, and scholarships for students to help them continue their schooling. In the first 6 months of 2023, the total amount of money and goods to support Agent Orange victims was nearly VND 8.4 billion plus gifts for 8,783 people each worth VND500,000-VND1 million.
Approximately 4.8 million Vietnamese people have been exposed to Agent Orange. Since 1975, nearly 1 million people died from exposure to Agent Orange. Statistically, more than 850,000 people in the second generation and 350,000 people in the third generation and about 500 people in the fourth generation are infected with Agent Orange - a powerful poison sprayed by the military to wipe out vegetation,
On this occasion, the Ho Chi Minh City Association of Agent Orange/Dioxin Victims introduced the walking program to support Agent Orange victims and presented a signboard representing the amount of scholarship awarded to children and grandchildren of Agent Orange victims.
