Many policies on the settlement of AO consequences have been carried out over the past years, including supporting AO victims. (Photo: VNA) Vietnammarks 61 years since the AO disaster on August 10 this year.
Sen.Lt. Gen. Nguyen Van Rinh, Chairman of the Vietnam Association of Victims of AO/Dioxin(VAVA), said the Party, State, and people have made wholehearted efforts withthe highest sense of responsibility to care for revolution contributors,including those suffering from toxic chemicals in the resistance war and AOvictims.
Manypolicies on the settlement of AO consequences have been carried out, he said,noting that the State has spent tens of trillions of VND each year on providingmonthly allowances, health care, and functional rehabilitation for AO victimsand aiding the AO-hit areas.
Morethan 320,000 people engaging in the resistance war and their children infectedwith AO are currently entitled to preferential policies for revolutioncontributors. Families of the disabled, including AO victims, have alsobenefited from health insurance or free medical services.
Hundredsof thousands of people with serious disabilities, including AO victims, havereceived orthopedic surgeries and functional rehabilitation while tens ofthousands of children, including those suffering from indirect AO impacts, havebeen assisted to attend specialised schools.
Thosepolicies have created favourable conditions for AO-infected persons whoperformed duties in the resistance war and residents in affected areas to havea stable life, Rinh went on.
Inaddition, VAVA has raised hundreds of billions of VND from domestic and foreignsources each year for helping AO victims build and repair houses, recover corporal functions, seek health examination and treatment, undergo vocational training,pursue learning, and develop livelihoods.
Sincethe VAVA establishment in January 2004, more than 2.66 trillion VND (nearly 113.7million USD) has been donated to the Fund for AO Victims, he noted.
Thereare now 12 peace and friendship villages along with a number of nursing centresfor disabled children, most of whom suffer from deformities caused by AO. The reproductivegenetic counselling centres in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City have also beenworking actively to reduce the rate of babies with birth defects. Some localitieshave also conducted psychological trauma surveys and provided mental health assistancefor AO victims, he added.
Besides,VAVA has brought into play its role as the core force in fighting for justicefor AO victims.
Rinhsaid the struggle for justice for Vietnamese victims of AO has been carried outin various forms and obtained significant outcomes.
Inparticular, since 2007, the US Congress has approved an annual budget for itscountry’s Government to help with the environmental remediation of dioxincontamination in Vietnam. The remediation was completed at Da Nang Airport in2018 and then moved on to the Bien Hoa airbase.
TheUS Government also carried out a programme to support AO victims during 2016 -2020 at a total cost of 21 million USD. Another programme worth 65 millionUSD for the 2021 - 2025 period is being promoted in some provinces hit hard by toxicchemicals during the war, the VAVA leader noted.
Heexpressed his belief that with assistance from all-level authorities, sectors,localities, domestic organisations and individuals, as well as internationalfriends, the AO pain will be gradually eased, and more AO victims and theirfamilies will surmount difficulties to move forwards.
According to VAVA, the US army sprayed 80 millionlitres of toxic chemicals on the south of Vietnam between 1961 and 1971, with 61%being AO containing 366kg of dioxin, on over nearly 3.06 million hectares(equivalent to nearly one quarter of the south’s total area).
Preliminary statistics showed that 4.8 millionVietnamese people were exposed to AO/dioxin, and about 3 million people becamevictims. Tens of thousands of people have died while millions of others havesuffered from cancer and other incurable diseases as a result. Many of theiroffspring also suffer from birth deformities./.
VNA
