The Vietnam Association of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA) has confirmed its position as a strong, effective and prestigious organization playing the key role in social activities to support the victims. The assessment was made at the sixth conference of VAVA’s Central Committee in Hanoi on October 1, during which the committee finalised its documents to submit to the third National Congress for the 2013-2018 term. Addressing the conference, VAVA President, Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Rinh spoke highly of the contributions that its members across the country have made to the documents, pledging that the committee will considers all the opinions to complete the documents, including a report on the plan for the association’s operation in the 2013-2018 period. Participants at the event agreed that more efforts should be made to better the support policies for the victims as well as VAVA staff. They said it is necessary to integrate programs of the association into socio-economic ones launched by the government, including the national target program on sustainable poverty reduction for the 2011-2015 period. According to Rinh, over the past 10 years, VAVA has raised nearly VND630 billion ($30 million) to fund the building of rehabilitation centres in 20 localities and 2,392 houses for poor victims. He said that about half a million victims have received assistance in different forms from the association. (vietnamplus.vn Oct 1)
