PRESS RELEASE

September 12, 2006

United States To Support Five Rehabilitation Workshops in Vietnam.

Ambassador Michael Marine will visit a rehabilitation workshop in Ha Giang today as part of a regional trip and will discuss additional support for this and other similar centers.  As a part of its broader assistance to persons with disabilities in Vietnam, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has committed an additional $1,275,354 to support five rehabilitation workshops in the provinces of Thai Binh, Hoa Binh, Ha Nam, Ha Giang, and Nam Dinh.  

This project, implemented by the NGO the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation (VVAF) will establish three workshops in Thai Binh, Hoa Binh, Ha Nam provinces and continue to support to the Ha Giang, and Nam Dinh provincial centers in developing greater capacity at this rural level to provide excellent rehabilitation services and orthotic devices.  VVAF will provide technical training and mentoring to rehabilitation technicians, provide equipment and supplies for the workshops, facilitate outreach visits to rural areas and support the development of disabled persons self help groups in these targeted locations.

Since 1988, the USAID Leahy War Victims Fund and Displaced Children and Orphans Fund have contributed almost $43 million in support of persons with disabilities in Vietnam. 

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