A walk to raise funds for AO victims and poor disabled people (Photo: SGGP)
Meanwhile, provinces and cities, ministries, organizations and individuals have also carried out diverse activities to share the difficulties of AO victims’ families.
*** Statistics from the Hanoi Association of Victims of AO show that the city has over 50,000 people infected with or exposed to AO. Over 20,000 people have participated in the association at all levels, mobilizing tens of billions of VND to assist tens of thousands of victims.
*** In Ho Chi Minh city, the city Red Cross has recently worked with diverse agencies to organize an annual walk which started in 2002, raising funds for AO victims and poor disabled people, with an aim to bring them greater confidence in life.
From 2011 to 2016, the city Red Cross mobilized VND13.6 billion with its activities. In 2016 alone, through the walk for AO victims and poor disabled people, the Red Cross at all levels assisted 2,843 AO victims by giving them cash, presents, wheelchairs, cows and housing worth VND1.3 billion.
*** Da Nang city has recently organized a meeting and walk for AO victims, attracting some 3,000 participants.
Over the past 10 years, the city Association of Victims of Agent Orange has mobilized VND100 billion to improve the lives of thousands of AO victims.
*** Being a province with a large number of AO victims, the central province of Thua Thien - Hue has carried out diverse programs to support AO victims and their families.
Apart from cow and pig programs in A Luoi district which reports up to 5,000 AO victims, the provincial Association of Victims of Agent Orange has supported diverse livelihood projects, including chicken raising in Huong Tra commune, safe water provision in Dong Son commune, tree planting around A So Airport to prevent people and animals from entering AO polluted areas, tree planting in communes around A So Airport to detoxify AO for local residents, and healthcare provision for residents in Phong My commune, Phong Dien district.
The associations at all levels have also mobilized some VND4 billion to give housing support, mitigate the consequences caused by natural disasters, give vocational training and loans at no interest rate, provide healthcare and wheelchairs, as well as thousands of gifts to families with members exposed to AO.
The province has set up 10 centres for caring, nursing and educating disabled children, as well as those suspected to be infected with AO.
*** According to Dao Nguyen, President of the Dong Nai provincial Association of Victims of Agent Orange, in the first half of 2017, the association spent over VND3.7 billion to care for AO victims.
Accordingly, the victims were given housing, scholarships, vocational training and regular assistance./.