USAID Funds Medical Rehabilitation Center in Danang

September 24, 2007

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) American Schools and Hospitals Bureau is providing $400,000 to build a two-story rehabilitation clinic at Danang’s Binh Dan Hospital. Managed by the U.S. organization Vietnam Assistance for the Handicapped, a charitable organization founded in 1991 to assist the war amputees and other disabled in Viet-Nam, the project will supply state-of-the art medical equipment to the new hospital wing helping the thousands of Danang's residents who suffer from mobility impairments.
United States Deputy Chief of Mission Jonathan Aloisi attended the ground breaking ceremony of the center on Sunday, September 23 at the Binh Dan General Hospital. "The center is both an important addition to the medical service of Danang and a symbol of the longstanding US-Vietnamese cooperation in addressing the needs of persons with disabilities.  Mr. Aloisi said at the ceremony.  "To date, the United States Government has contributed over $43 million in assistance to support Vietnamese living with disabilities."

In addition to medical care for the disabled like the Rehabilitation Center in Danang, U.S. assistance has funded programs which help disabled children remain in school, providing alternative livelihoods, creating more accessible roads, transport and buildings, and ensuring that the millions of Vietnamese living with disabilities are given equal opportunities to participate in the Vietnam's social, cultural and economic life.  This assistance is part of an overall U.S. effort which has also included major programs in many other areas.