USAID will provide 50 million USD to help Agent Orange victims in Quang Tri, Thua Thien Hue, Quang Nam, Binh Dinh,  Dong Nai, Binh Phuoc, and Tay Ninh provinces.

The agency signed an MoU with  Vietnamese agencies last April to help people with disabilities in areas severely affected by Agent Orange deployed by the US army during the war. Quang Tri, Thua Thien Hue, Quang Nam, and Binh Dinh Provinces in the central region and Dong Nai, Binh Phuoc and Tay Ninh in the south were exposed to large amounts of poisonous chemicals, of which Agent Orange was the most widely used. It is estimated that there are more than 163,000 people with permanent and extremely severe physical and mental disabilities across the localities. The aid would help boost the country’s ability to  treat and rehabilitate AO victims, while improving their living conditions and enabling them to integrate with society.

Agent Orange, which contains the poisonous chemical dioxin, was used by  US military forces during the war in Vietnam from 1961 to 1971, causing one of the most horrifying tragedies in human history. Over the course of 10 years, the US Army sprayed 80 million liters of toxic chemicals, 60% of which were Agent Orange/Dioxin, on a large area of southern Vietnam. 

4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to Agent Orange/Dioxin and more than 3 million people have suffered illnesses as a result of exposure to the chemical.