Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange has new president

His election took place as part of the fifth VAVA Congress in Hanoi on December 28–29, during which participating delegates 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 president in the new term.

In his remarks, Chinh stressed that the new-term executive board 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 chapters nationwide raised more than VND2.27 trillion (US$93.4 million) in both cash and kind. They have spent over VND2.16 trillion on supporting AO victims, built 3,973 houses for the target group, presented 24,550 scholarships worth over VND19.58 billion in total to children of the victims, given free check-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 of herbicides, 44 million litres of which was AO containing nearly 370 kilogrammes of dioxin, over southern Vietnam. As a result, around 4.8 million Vietnamese were exposed to the toxic chemical. Many of them have died while millions of their descendants are living with deformities and diseases as a direct result of the chemical’s effects.