Azerbaijan, WHO to launch project on rehabilitation of disabled people

By Ayya Lmahamad

Azerbaijan and the World Health Organization will launch a cooperation project aimed to strengthen the rehabilitation system of disabled persons in Azerbaijan.

During the meeting with representatives of the World Health Organization, Labor and Social Protection Minister Sahil Babayev said that rehabilitation devices are being provided to the disabled people in the country.

“Some 23 more new types were added to the list of these devices in 2020. Currently, people with disabilities are provided with 60 types of rehabilitation aids,” the minister stated.

Babayev underlined that modern rehabilitation and social institutions were opened in six more regions in 2020 and four more such institutions will open in 2021.

“By the end of 2021, the number of rehabilitation and social institutions of the ministry will exceed by 30, and an annual number of people who will receive rehabilitation services will reach 30,000,” Babayev added.

Some 11,344 people were provided with 35,000 rehabilitation aids in 2020, the ministry said.

He emphasized that a program has been launched in the country to provide disabled people with high-tech prostheses and the consistent work is being carried out in this sphere.

Furthermore, Babayev briefed the participants on the work done to provide socio-psychological and rehabilitation support to those wounded during the Second Karabakh War, conducting an operational, centralized medical and social expertise of these people.

Touching upon a new project, the minister emphasized that it aimed at strengthening cooperation in the field of rehabilitation in Azerbaijan.

Head of WHO office in Azerbaijan Hande Harmanci stressed that the project covering 2021 envisages the research to determine the need for rehabilitation aids.

“As a result of the research, the proposals will be developed to further expand the list of types of rehabilitation aids,” she added.

The Azerbaijan WHO Country Office was established in June 2004 in Baku in order to assist in the implementation of WHO programmes in the country. 

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Ayya Lmahamad is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow her on Twitter: @AyyaLmahamad

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