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Vulcan Augmetics Offers Prosthetics in Vietnam

Prosthetics in Vietnam
Though the Vietnam War ended 47 years ago, buried in Vietnamese soil, thousands of unexploded land mines, grenades and cluster bombs continue to injure or kill people. There are 100,000 amputees requiring prosthetics in Vietnam and about 80% are from landmines. Till today, 2,000 people are stepping on live landmines every year. In 2018, two expatriates founded Vulcan Augmetics, a social enterprise startup that utilized 3D printing and injection molding to create customizable and upgradable prosthetics. Its goal is to support amputees in developing countries and lower the cost of prosthetics.

Affordable Price

In developed nations, most amputees have access to social assistance and medical insurance covered by the legislation. In contrast, 95% of amputees in Vietnam have to support their own lives, with unemployment high up to 70%.

Rafael Masters and Akshay Sharma founded Vulcan Augmetics in 2018. One of their inspirations to start the company Vulcan Augmetics is to subsidize Vietnamese amputees with accessibility to high-functioning prosthetics when they lack quality insurance coverage.

Vulcan Augmetics combines traditional metal frames with plastic parts made through 3D printing. The innovation in filled materials controls prices of prosthetics at $1,100, making them more affordable than most prosthetic arms that cost $2,600 on average, explained Masters to KrASIA.

Sustainable Design

Another advantage of Vulcan Augmetics is to give amputees a say in developing artificial limbs, augmenting them to meet their own needs.

Rather than offering traditional fixed prosthetics, the company designed and produced flexible components for modifying and upgrading. Vulcan’s prosthetics plug and click together like Lego pieces, enabling rearrangement to suit the daily demands of a given occupation or task, according to KrASIA.

For the base model, there is also an adjustable mechanical device inside the hand with multiple functions, providing users the ability to do daily chores, said Masters to KrASIA. Going through the cheap and efficient entry-level ones, customers can upgrade to advanced models for more possibilities in life and work.

Broad Market

Till 2021, Vulcan has partnered with 17 major hospitals and clinics with orthotic and prosthetics services in Vietnam, offering new prosthetics to 32 people in need. It targets to have at least 50 users per month in 2022 and aggrandize its business to other regions in Southeast Asia, according to Youth Colab.

Positioning itself as a social enterprise, Vulcan Augmetics lists prices and detailed product information upfront on its website, so potential buyers can know what options are available no matter where they are.

For startups aiming to break down barriers to artificial limbs worldwide, this decentralized approach helps place the customer at the forefront. People no longer have to approach hospitals and clinics to find a prosthetic, but getting to see product options and collaborate in building prosthetics online without geographic hurdles.

Vulcan Augmetics plans to develop product lines for people with paralysis or weak muscles, and those without disabilities want to be more durable and flexible in special physical activities. For a long-term goal, the company wishes to serve 38 million disabled people globally in addition to providing prosthetics in Vietnam, according to KrASIA.

– Shiyu Pan
Photo: Unsplash

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USAID: Agent Orange Cleanup in Vietnam

Agent Orange Cleanup As the United States fought its campaign against North Vietnamese forces during the Vietnam War, part of the military’s strategy included the deployment of Agent Orange, a chemical weapon used to defoliate jungles to expose enemy positions. The toxin was heavily used and has had disastrous health and environmental effects. Now, the United States is leading Agent Orange cleanup efforts in Vietnam. USAID is taking the charge to continue its environmental restoration efforts.

USAID’s Agent Orange Cleanup Commitment

In December 2020, USAID announced that it would commit to contributing an additional $20 million to cleaning up Agent Orange residue around the Bien Hoa Airbase, a major military base used by the United States during the Vietnam War. The airbase was used to store various types of munitions, including chemical weapons such as Agent Orange.

This adds to the $90 million that has already been committed to cleaning up the area around the Bien Hoa Airbase. Planning for the multi-year cleanup operation will be conducted by Trigon Associates, a woman-owned business based in Louisiana.

This recent contribution is part of USAID’s wider Environmental Remediation program, which seeks to decontaminate areas with high concentrations of residual Agent Orange throughout Vietnam. USAID has already completed a major decontamination project in Danang, which remediated 32.4 hectares between 2012 and 2018 at a cost of $110 million.

The current decontamination effort in Bien Hoa is set to last until 2030 and is projected to cost upwards of $183 million. According to USAID, Bien Hoa is the last remaining Agent Orange hotspot in Vietnam. These Agent Orange cleanup efforts are significant as they cleanse Vietnam of a chemical toxin that has been a source of much human and environmental suffering that has lingered for decades.

Agent Orange: Health Impact

According to the United States Department of Veterans Affairs, exposure to Agent Orange is linked to Hodgkin’s disease, ischemic heart disease, Parkinson’s and prostate cancer, among other life-threatening illnesses. Its widespread use means that an untold number of both U.S. veterans and Vietnamese civilians were exposed to the toxin and are at risk of developing these conditions.

Agent Orange exposure has also been linked to birth defects in the children of those who have been exposed. An analysis by ProPublica indicated that the likelihood of having children born with birth defects was more than one-third higher for veterans exposed to Agent Orange versus those who were not.

In addition to causing the grave environmental harm of defoliation, Agent Orange has caused multi-generational human suffering. After spraying more than 20 million gallons of the defoliate over a period of 10 years between 1961 and 1971, the United States is now leading the campaign to clean up harmful residue and protect the people of Vietnam from further exposure.

International Partnership Between Old Foes

The fight against global poverty breaks down barriers and fosters closer ties between international partners, even ones that were once engaged in protracted conflict. Where the United States and Vietnam were once enemies, they are now cooperating in the Agent Orange cleanup, undoing the lingering effects of a brutal war and paving the way for mutually beneficial economic development.

– John Andrikos
Photo: Flickr

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25 Years of Peaceful US and Vietnam Relations

us and vietnam relations
The U.S. and Vietnam relations have experienced many changes over time. In 1995, the two nations normalized the alliance and since then, the partnership has become stronger. In June of 2020, Florida representative Ted Yoho introduced a resolution to the House, H. Res. 1018, to recognize the 25 years of normalized relations between the nations. It reaffirms the relationship and expresses a desire for the U.S. to continue its successful partnership with Vietnam.

The U.S. and Vietnam have established strong economic relations during these 25 years as the U.S. has advocated for economic growth within the country. In 2000, for instance, the nations agreed on a bilateral trade agreement that benefits both nations. Also, in recent years, U.S. investment has spiked in Vietnam. Throughout the nations’ partnership, Vietnam has become a growing economic power with an unemployment rate of only 2.2% in 2017. Furthermore, just 8% of its population lives below the poverty line. As noted in the resolution, the U.S. encourages Vietnam’s continued growth in leadership, stability and prosperity.

House Resolution 1018

On June 24, 2020, Representative Yoho introduced H. Res. 1018 to the U.S. House of Representatives. Less than a month later, the resolution moved to the Foreign Affairs Committee before going to the Subcommittee on Asia, the Pacific and Nonproliferation.

A Congressional resolution is different from a Congressional bill as it holds no legal obligation. Rather, it is a reflection on the widespread attitude of one of the Congressional institutions. House Resolution 1018 marks 25 years of normalized U.S. and Vietnam relations, celebrates the success that occurred during those years and looks forward to future relations.

More specifically, through H. Res. 1018, the U.S. encourages Vietnam’s decision to take on more global leadership in the U.N. Security Council and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. It also encourages and celebrates the stability of the nation, reaffirming the importance of U.S. and Vietnam relations. The stability of Vietnam is beneficial for the U.S. because it lowers concerns over national security and allows for a complete sense of closure around the Vietnam War as the U.S. accounts for its military.

US and Vietnam Relations Moving Forward

In the future, the nations look to continue their normalized relations because it is a mutually beneficial partnership. As noted in the resolution, the U.S. aims to spread its values to Vietnam, continuing its “strong support for human rights and democratic values.” As these are major values of the U.S. government, it is helpful for the nation to spread them to other countries. H. Res. 1018 puts a large emphasis on this area of U.S. and Vietnam relations — signaling that it will be a significant part of the nation’s relations moving forward.

According to the resolution, human rights and democratic values contribute to advances in poverty reduction. Moving forward, much of the focus on U.S. and Vietnam relations emphasizes economic conditions. For example, the U.S. previously gave humanitarian aid to Vietnam through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). With the hope for increasing economic prosperity in the resolution, the nations are looking towards further reducing poverty through future reduction efforts.

House Resolution 1018 aims to continue the peaceful U.S. and Vietnam relations through expanding upon many of the nation’s established successes. This resolution motivates the Vietnam government to continue working with the U.S. to ensure economic success and stability.

– Erica Burns
Photo: Flickr

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10 Facts About Vietnamese Boat People

Many remember the Vietnam War as one of the most appalling in American history, and, as one can image, a harrowing chapter for Vietnam. The 1975 reunification of Vietnam established a brutally oppressive regime, striking fear into the hearts of those who lived in Vietnam. The result was a mass exodus of refugees now known as Boat People. Here are ten facts about Vietnamese Boat People who fled in search of better futures.

10 Facts About Vietnamese Boat People

  1. As the name implies, refugees relied on small boats. Under the new regime of the Republic of Vietnam, leaving the country was initially illegal. While this would change with time and the intervention of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), escaping occurred illegally by sea. Many of those who left were families of farmers, fishermen, and people with other rural jobs who had access to boats that were well suited for sailing near shore but were not designed for travel on the open sea. The only option for leaving was by cramming families into small boats.
  2. Diverse communities were at risk. The war devastated the country’s infrastructure. While relief eventually came, it did not reach everyone. To make matters worse, in 1979 the Sino-Vietnamese War left those with Chinese heritage fearing for their lives. As there was already a precedent of executions and re-location to labor camps, people also fled the northern areas of Vietnam, at one point accounting for 70 percent of refugees.
  3. Fleeing Vietnam was dangerous. Partly because a large number of refugees from other countries were in the Indochinese area at the time, it is difficult to estimate exactly how many people fled Vietnam. However, experts estimate up to 1.5 million refugees escaped but a high estimate of 10 percent died from drowning, piracy, dehydration, or otherwise never made landfall.
  4. The crisis went unrecognized until refugee numbers grew. An estimated 62,000 Vietnamese Boat People sought refuge throughout Southeast Asia by 1978. This number rose to 350,000 by mid-1979, with another 200,000 having moved to permanent residence in other countries. At first, countries close to Vietnam accepted refugees and provided asylum, however many of those countries’ policies changed.
  5. Refugees often passed through multiple countries. Boat People initially sailed to countries closest to their own such as Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Indonesia. The UNHCR established a temporary agreement whereby these countries, many of which began refusing asylum to further refugees, would serve as “first asylums.” This meant the refugees would only stay there temporarily until they could be screened and enter nations like the U.S. and Canada.
  6. Countries grew less welcoming to refugees as time went on. Despite the 1979 agreement, the number of Vietnamese Boat People increased in first asylum countries faster than they could process. Some estimate that for every refugee who left one of these countries, three more arrived. Hostility towards the refugees eventually increased, while political situations within each country further exacerbated tensions. Hong Kong, for example, refused to accept Chinese economic migrants but accepted Vietnamese refugees, causing conflict between the nations.
  7. Swamped by refugees to the point of exhaustion, Malaysia faced difficult choices when it came to Boat People. The situation worsened to the point that Malaysians pushed back one vessel having approximately 2,500 refugees on board. This was due in part to ethnic tension between Malay Muslims and the native Chinese. Boat People landing in areas largely inhabited by a Muslim populace further aggravated tension. As Robert Miller, the ambassador to Malaysia at the time put itA “From the Malaysian standpoint they have a very delicate ethnic balance in the country… they have an ‘ethnic fault line running the length and breadth of their country between the Malay Muslims and the pork-eating Chinese.” As a result, they, like other Southeast Asian countries, eventually refused to accept further refugees.
  8. “Full asylum” nations showed fatigue as the crisis continued. As more refugees entered the United States, people began to question whether the Vietnamese refugees were fleeing due to fear or financial situations. Suspicion arose and screening processes intensified as fewer nations wanted to house the refugees at all. As Miller put it “From the field we were always pressing for earlier decisions and decisions for bigger quotas. From the Washington perspective, they were pressing us to increase international cooperation –get more countries to take more so we could take less.”
  9. Thousands of refugees found stable homes. Though Vietnamese Boat People constituted a refugee crisis, it soothed over several years. Refugees who passed screening and inspection entered the U.S., Canada, Britain, and Australia able to begin new lives. While most ultimately flew the last leg of their journey on planes, at least one group made it to Australia by boat. The main solution for refugees resettling included working directly with the Vietnamese government, which eventually sanctioned departures from the country.
  10. Survival stories live on. Fleeing Vietnam was dangerous and offered no guarantee, but survivors found new lives in their new homes. Vietnamese immigrant communities eventually flourished. The UNHRC continued its work making transportation out of Vietnam legal and even encouraged. Nowadays, descendants of those who left in fear can return to discover their heritage and the stories of their ancestors, ensuring that the legacy of Boat People will live on. The preservation of their history and ongoing peaceful relations with Vietnam created a solution that finally materialized.

The fallout from the Vietnam War was, as the fallout from many wars, far worse than anticipated. These stories  and day’s refugee crisis show that people can be far less welcoming to refugees than we might hope. However, the survival of those who lived to tell these stories indicates that dangerous risks can lead to safer futures. These 10 facts about Vietnamese Boat People show that when accepted, refugees can thrive and improve relationships between nations.

– Mason Sansonia
Photo: Flickr

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10 Little-Known Facts About the Cambodian Genocide

Cambodian genocideIn 1975, the Khmer Rouge gained control of the Cambodian government with the intent to transform Cambodia into a communist state. As a result, millions of civilians were evacuated from the cities into labor camps where an estimated 1.7 million died from starvation, torture, abuse and execution.

For four years, the Khmer Rouge under the control of former Prime Minister Pol Pot wreaked havoc in Cambodia, creating one of the most devastating mass killings in global history. While the atrocities today are widely known, there are still many facts about the Cambodian genocide that the general public does not know.

Important Facts About the Cambodian Genocide

  1. Unlike other genocides in which specific ethnic groups are targeted for execution, the Cambodian genocide had no exceptions and would single out doctors, teachers, minorities, people with an education, children and even babies.
  2. Pol Pot wanted the nation to revert to a self-sufficient way of living where money had no influence in society. This led to the forced evacuation of cities into the rural communities for a “fresh start.”
  3. Among the near two million dead were an estimated 100,000 Cham Muslims and 20,000 Vietnamese.
  4. While some facts about the Cambodian genocide gained international recognition, it lacked an international investigation due to the United States’ recent loss in the Vietnam War and the hesitance to become involved in the region again.
  5. In the years following the calamity, Cambodia began opening up to the international community again with survivors sharing their stories and recollections. With horrific facts about the Cambodian genocide coming to light, Hollywood created the movie “The Killing Fields” based off of victims’ firsthand experiences. This film brought worldwide attention to what was, just a few years earlier, internationally neglected.
  6. The Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, otherwise known as the ECCC, was established in 1997 with the assistance of the United Nations. The purpose of the tribunal was to try the senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge for the mass crimes committed during the genocide.
  7. Pol Pot faced a show trial in 1997 where he was sentenced to house arrest. He died just less than a year later, never facing a real trial for his crimes and leaving millions of affected people without the chance to bring him to justice.
  8. Victims were allowed to actively participate in the trial proceedings as complainants and civil parties, giving them the satisfaction of justice being enforced. The amount of victims present during each case varied from 94 to 4,128.
  9. Throughout the trials, three offenders were convicted and four were charged for allegations pertaining to crimes against humanity, homicide, violations of the 1956 Cambodian Penal Code, breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and genocide.
  10. The closing statements for the final case lasted nine days in June 2017 and the final judgment is expected to be presented in 2018.

The Cambodian genocide itself may have only lasted four years but the effects from it will continue to last for years, decades and even centuries. The Cambodian people will continue to rebuild their nation and their own lives, working toward a better, more peaceful future.

– Samantha Harward
Photo: Flickr

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Why Vietnam Loves the US

Why Vietnam Loves the U.S.Vietnam and America engaged in one of the 20th century’s ugliest conflicts. Yet the Vietnamese of today (and Vietnamese Millennials in particular) hold a favorable view of their former enemy. While the popularity of the United States sunk in 2017 throughout the globe, Vietnam’s approval of the U.S. only grew. The key to why Vietnam loves the U.S. lies in how Vietnam benefits from international trade and foreign aid.

In the 2016 U.S. presidential election, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump opposed the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a trade agreement that would lower tariff barriers on trade. The United States withdrew from the negotiations. But Vietnam remained in, as 89 percent of Vietnamese were supportive of the TPP, according to a Pew survey. And, as predicted by economists Michael Plummer and Peter Petri, the nations involved in the TPP could gain $147 billion in income by 2030.

Vietnam’s support for free trade draws from its history. In addition to the 20th-century war, the U.S. trade embargo on Vietnam added to the country’s economic woes. The Asian country enriched itself once market opportunities opened up. Growing tourism on Vietnam’s beaches also gave the country the money required for a sustainable recovery.

Tran Thuc Huyen, a master’s candidate currently residing in Washington, commented on how economics, more than goodwill, explains why Vietnam loves the U.S. “What we’ve seen is the U.S. efforts to make war reparations here in Vietnam, like offering education scholarships as part of its soft-power diplomacy,” he said.

Despite Vietnam’s status as a poorer country, it ranks fifth among nations sending their students to American institutions. In addition, it grades in the top 10 among foreign buyers of residential properties in the U.S. These economic interests travel both ways. Forbes Magazine and the World Bank consider Vietnam an investment haven for entrepreneurs. Vietnam looks to American infrastructure investments as an alternative to their inefficient government-run programs.

In 2014, Llewellyn King of the Huffington Post toured Vietnam and interviewed its people. The Vietnamese had little interest in talking about the war. “They wanted to know three things,” said King, “…how could they get American goods, how could they sell their goods in the U.S. market, and what was the United States going to do about China?” Vietnam loves the U.S. because it wants to enrich its people, with the same methods America used, to become an economic superpower.

– Nick Edinger

Photo: Flickr

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US AID to Detoxify Da Nang Airport

US AID to Detoxify Da Nang Airport
Earlier this week, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) announced that they will be initiating a program to detoxify Da Nang Airport of any remaining dioxin.

Da Nang Airport, located in the largest city in central Vietnam, has a long military history and was used as a US military airbase for a period of years during the Vietnam War. Dioxin is a highly toxic substance that was used in Agent Orange – used by the US military as a defoliant during the war. Da Nang was a storage and handling facility for Agent Orange, and the airport was previously identified as one of three dioxins “hot spots” throughout Vietnam.

Locals who live near the airport were tested by the Hatfield Consultants Company in 2006, and the tests confirmed that 24 of the 62 residents tested positive for dioxin contamination. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), dioxin contamination has been linked to numerous types of cancers, impairment of the nervous system and reproductive system, and diabetes.  A local villager, whose husband succumbed to cancer in 2008, said, “On days when it floods dark, contaminated water from lakes on the airport’s ground flows into my land that is used for vegetable cultivation.” The plants then die, she continued, although the stems are still used for food.

USAID has been collaborating with the Vietnamese government and several other agencies for the detoxification project, which will run through 2016. The company TerraTherm will use the In-Pile Thermal Desorption process to rid approximately 73,000 cubic meters of airport soil of dioxin. This process uses the long-term heating of soil in above-ground structures to rid the soil of contaminants. The technique has been used successfully on various other decontamination projects.

With well over 1 million passengers annually passing through Da Nang Airport, USAID’s efforts to eradicate dioxin will be beneficial for the expansion of the airport and especially for the health of the local inhabitants.

– Christina Kindlon

Source: Tuoi Tre News