A charity event held in the northern province of Thai Binh on October 16 raised over VND50 million ($2,350) for local Agent Orange victims. The exchange, co-organized by the Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange (AO)/dioxin (VAVA), Thai Binh provincial Radio and Television Station and the Thai Binh Businesswomen’s Association, was part of a fund-raising campaign launched in September. The campaign has so far received more than VND900 million from donors. Over the past years, a total of VND36 billion ($1.7 million) have been mobilised for AO victims in Thai Binh province. The money has been used to build houses, provide wheelchairs, medical check-ups and medicine, and open vocational training courses for the victims. Since early 2011, with the support of the Association for Better Living and Education (ABLE), the VAVA has conducted dioxin detoxification courses in Thai Binh based on Hubbard method, which was successfully applied for victims of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe in Ukraine . Hundreds of victims have received detoxification treatment under this program. Thai Binh has over 340,000 AO victims, of which more than 3,000 are second-generation victims. However, only 210,000 have benefited from regular allowances. (vietnamplus.vn Oct 17)
