VAVA steps up collaboration to improve living conditions of AO/dioxin victims
The Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA) will step up cooperation to improve living conditions of Agent Orange/dioxin victims and people with disabilities under an agreement signed with the Centre for Social Initiatives Promotion (CSIP) on March 15.
The agreement is part of the US$750,000 project on improving the quality of life of people with disabilities in eight provinces heavily sprayed with Agent Orange" funded by the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
Approved by the Ministry of National Defence in October 2021, the project will be carried out in 2021-2026 to support people with disabilities in eight provinces, namely Quang Tri, Thua Thien-Hue, Quang Nam, Binh Dinh, Kon Tum, Binh Phuoc, Dong Nai and Tay Ninh.
Addressing the signing ceremony, Tran Duc Hung, Deputy Director of the National Action Centre for Toxic Chemicals and Environmental Treatment (NACCET), the project’s manager, noted that it will focus on expanding medical assistance and rehabilitation services, improving policies, reducing barriers faced by persons with disabilities as well as strengthening the capacity of supporting activities for them at all levels.
The agreement will help mobilise resources, advocate policies for Agent Orange/dioxin victims, improve the management capacity and the realisation of programmes conducted by VAVA and its chapters in the above-mentioned eight provinces.
VAVA President Nguyen Van Rinh said that the number of Agent Orange/dioxin victims in Vietnam is very big. In these eight provinces, nearly 66,500 people with disabilities need special care, 76,733 people with mental disorders and 59,759 people want to participate in vocational training and employment opportunities, he said.
According to Rinh, toxic chemicals have left very heavy consequences in Vietnam. The life of the Agent Orange/dioxin victims and their families is extremely difficult due to fatal diseases and deformities. Many of them haven’t got the opportunity to work. Agent Orange/dioxin victims are in dire need of regular care and appropriate rehabilitation services to improve their quality of life and social integration.
The VAVA President expressed his hope that the USAID will support the care for seriously–ill Agent Orange/dioxin victims at VAVA’s centres and expand the project on improving the quality of life of people with disabilities in provinces heavily sprayed with Agent Orange, thus helping the victims and their families have better living conditions in line with the Vietnamese Government’s policy of ensuring that no one is left behind.
