A conference was held in Hanoi on December 17 to review theimplementation of a project to rehabilitate people affected by AgentOrange (AO)/dioxin in Vietnam.
Speaking at theconference, jointly held by the Health Ministry and the Hanoi Schoolof Public Health, Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Viet Tien said theproject brought practical benefits for AO/dioxin victims and disabledpeople as they have seen their health improve.
According toDr. Tran Trong Hai, the project’s vice director, the project wasimplemented in several districts in the three provinces of Thai Binh,Quang Ngai and Dong Nai from 2008-2013.
Itaimed to improve the quality of life and help AO victims integrate intothe community via rehabilitation intervention measures, provide aiddevices and knowledge transfer, and propose amendments to legaldocuments on rehabilitation for the infected.
The project targeted AO/dioxin victims, who met difficulties in moving,seeing, hearing, speaking and studying, and those with strangebehaviour, epilepsy, cancer and relevant chronic diseases.
After five years implementation, the project provided healthcheck-ups for 6,670 victims of toxic chemicals and disabled people andoffered medical devices to 1,266 others.
Morethan 1,000 people received surgery and were rehabilitated in hospitals,while over 7,500 others got the help at home. Ninety percent of them sawimprovements in their health and were able to normalise their lives.
In the coming time, the project will beexpanded to all districts in the three abovementioned provinces, andthree new localities, namely Lao Cai, Quang Nam and Ben Tre. It isscheduled to cover all localities across the country after 2020.
Preliminary statistics by Vietnamese scientists indicated about threemillion Vietnamese people were exposed to dioxin, while statisticsfrom US scientists at Columbia University showed that the numberis anywhere between 2.1 - 4.8 million. The toxic chemicals still have asevere influence on Vietnam ’s filial generation today.
According to the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin(VAVA), US troops sprayed 80 million litres of the defoliant AgentOrange, which contained almost 400 kg of toxic dioxin, on Vietnam ’ssouthern battlefields during a 10-year period beginning on August 10,1961.-VNA
Speaking at theconference, jointly held by the Health Ministry and the Hanoi Schoolof Public Health, Deputy Health Minister Nguyen Viet Tien said theproject brought practical benefits for AO/dioxin victims and disabledpeople as they have seen their health improve.
According toDr. Tran Trong Hai, the project’s vice director, the project wasimplemented in several districts in the three provinces of Thai Binh,Quang Ngai and Dong Nai from 2008-2013.
Itaimed to improve the quality of life and help AO victims integrate intothe community via rehabilitation intervention measures, provide aiddevices and knowledge transfer, and propose amendments to legaldocuments on rehabilitation for the infected.
The project targeted AO/dioxin victims, who met difficulties in moving,seeing, hearing, speaking and studying, and those with strangebehaviour, epilepsy, cancer and relevant chronic diseases.
After five years implementation, the project provided healthcheck-ups for 6,670 victims of toxic chemicals and disabled people andoffered medical devices to 1,266 others.
Morethan 1,000 people received surgery and were rehabilitated in hospitals,while over 7,500 others got the help at home. Ninety percent of them sawimprovements in their health and were able to normalise their lives.
In the coming time, the project will beexpanded to all districts in the three abovementioned provinces, andthree new localities, namely Lao Cai, Quang Nam and Ben Tre. It isscheduled to cover all localities across the country after 2020.
Preliminary statistics by Vietnamese scientists indicated about threemillion Vietnamese people were exposed to dioxin, while statisticsfrom US scientists at Columbia University showed that the numberis anywhere between 2.1 - 4.8 million. The toxic chemicals still have asevere influence on Vietnam ’s filial generation today.
According to the Vietnam Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin(VAVA), US troops sprayed 80 million litres of the defoliant AgentOrange, which contained almost 400 kg of toxic dioxin, on Vietnam ’ssouthern battlefields during a 10-year period beginning on August 10,1961.-VNA
