Azernews.Az

By Abdul Kerimkhanov

Azerbaijani Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Population has made a significant contribution to the implementation of the state's social policy and the improvement of the welfare of the country's population.

Significant successes have been achieved in strengthening the social protection of the population of Azerbaijan and raising public care for vulnerable people.

The decree on additional measures to expand social services provided to children and other persons in need of special care, signed by President Ilham Aliyev on June 1, will significantly increase the number of social rehabilitation centers for people of these categories, the Ministry of Labor and Social Protection of Population said in a message.

As much as 5 million manats ($2.94 million) will be allocated from the President’s Reserve Fund to the ministry in order to expand social services (day care, social rehabilitation, psychological surdological and other assistance) provided to children and other persons in need of special care, according to the order.

According to the social orders of the ministry, NGOs that specialize in relevant areas will create 30 day care centers and 36 community-based centers for social rehabilitation in cities and regions of Azerbaijan in 2019. Thus, the number of such centers will be increased from 50 to 116.

The presidential order also creates conditions for the growth of the number of psychological assistance centers for children with Down syndrome and autism from one to 15 years old, help centers for children up to 15 years old who have suffered from domestic violence, centers for surdology and rehabilitation services for children from two to 10 years old.

Thanks to this order, the number of social rehabilitation centers for children with visual disabilities will be increased to three, the number of centers to support parents in communicating with children with disabilities – up to 10, and up to 15 centers for people affected by domestic violence.

On the other hand, this presidential decree provides an opportunity to create five day care centers for the elderly, as many as 10 vocational social rehabilitation centers for people with disabilities and three rehabilitation centers for victims of human trafficking.

Thus, Azerbaijan will have 3.5 times more, about 200 centers for the provision of social services.

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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

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