VietNamNet Bridge – A charity text-message campaign was launched yesterday, Aug 8, to raise funds in support of Agent Orange (AO) victims.

The campaign has been organised to mark the Day for Agent Orange Victims which will be held tomorrow, August 10.

People from all walks of life can support the campaign by texting DACAM to 1409 from August 1 to September 30. Each mobile text message will add VND18,000 (US$0.85) to the fund.

Donations for AO victims can also be made online on the Viet Nam Association of Victims of Agent Orange/Dioxin (VAVA) website at www.vava.org.vn or www.-noidaudacam.net.

The association is aiming to collect around VND130 billion ($6.2 million) from this campaign together with financial support from other sources this year.

The fund will be spent on building three care centres and 800 houses for AO victims, 10,000 scholarships for the children of AO victims and health checks and treatment for 5,000 AO victims.

Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Van Rinh, the association's chairman, said the annual campaign was expected to help raise public awareness of the dioxin catastrophe and call for more support for AO victims.

Initiated in 2011, the text message campaign has collected nearly VND9.5 billion ($452,000) over the past two years.

About 80 million litres of herbicides, mainly Agent Orange containing dioxin, were sprayed over South Viet Nam during the Viet Nam War.

Nearly 4.8 million Vietnamese people were exposed to dioxin and around 3 million suffer from health problems today.

Source: VNS