HCM City breaks ground on new ‘AO Village’
(VOV) - The HCM City Association for Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (HAVA) on July 1 held a ground-breaking ceremony for a centre known as AO village to care for and provide vocational training and rehabilitation for AO/Dioxin victims.
The project will be constructed on 49,000 sq.m at a cost of VND100 billion mobilised from domestic and foreign benefactors.
Major General Tran Ngoc Tho, HAVA President, said the city has more than 20,000 AO victims, including 5,000 war veterans.
The village is expected to be put into operation in the fourth quarter of 2018, providing healthcare services, special treatment drugs for AO victims, and vocational training for them and their children to help them reintegrate into society.
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It will serve as a home for sufferers from the adverse consequences of the toxic chemicals used during the war, Tho said.
Dr Nguyen Thi Ngoc Phuong, Vice president of the Vietnam Association for Victims of AO/Dioxin (VAVA), said this is one of three key support centres for AO victims that VAVA plans to build in Hanoi, Danang and HCM City.
Currently, Vietnam has around 3 million AO victims, Phuong said.