A U.S.-backed assistance program that helps people with disabilities in Laos has been expanded to cover parts of country’s southeast that are still suffering from the effects of Agent Orange, a herbicide sprayed by the U.S. military on the Ho Chi Minh Trail during the Vietnam War.
The Okard program, named for the Lao word for “opportunity,” is funded by the United States Agency for International Development, or USAID. Established in 2017, the program assists disabled Lao citizens with healthcare, vocational training and community building.
Recently the program expanded to five districts in southern Laos, including Nong district, Savannakhet province.
“We have many people with disabilities, they’re blind, deaf, or they have ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease),all because of Agent Orange, and most of them have been disabled since birth,” a doctor from the district told RFA Lao on condition of anonymity to speak freely.
“The Okard project came to our district in September 2024 to help those living with disabilities.”
Agent Orange is still wreaking havoc in Laos, almost 50 years after the U.S. sprayed the Ho Chi Minh Trail, during Operation Ranch Hand with more than 600,000 gallons (2.3 million liters) of the herbicide between between 1965 and 1970, affecting more than 800 villages.
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According to a survey conducted by the Vermont-based War Legacies Project, 769 people in five districts located within 5 miles (8 kilometers) from the wartime spray areas had birth defects and disabilities attributable to Agent Orange.
An additional 309 had other defects that might not necessarily have resulted from the defoliant, which was used to prevent communist forces from taking cover in the jungle during the conflict.
The survey said the highest rates of Agent Orange-related birth defects were found in Samouay district, Salavan province.
“In Samouay district, there are people who have been blind since birth due to the impact of Agent Orange,” a district-level official from Samouay told RFA Lao on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
“Others were born with disabilities or later contract ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease), because Agent Orange affected their parents, and that in turn impacts children,” he said.
A public health official from Samouay explained that Agent Orange contaminated the water and soil, and its effects are still felt.
“The residents here eat fish that have been exposed to Agent Orange who then pass it on to people,” she said. “What we commonly see is that people become ill with all kinds of sicknesses. It also has impact on the brain, causing things like epilepsy.”
Translated by Phouvong. Edited by Eugene Whong and Malcolm Foster