Short and middle term care

Photo: V. Gutiérrez   SOS Social Centres are established to meet local needs. Their aim is to alleviate poverty and help people to help themselves. With day care for their children and skills training, young mothers can help support their families. Counselling helps families struggling to cope with life, and activity programmes for children and young people broaden their horizons. Many people in non-European countries have no access to even basic medical services. These are provided by SOS Medical Centres. Their purpose also is to prevent disease and improve standards of health through information campaigns and vaccination programmes, as well as to reduce infant mortality. In times of crisis, SOS Children's Villages organise emergency relief programmes wherever possible. Accommodation, medical services and temporary schools were provided for Afghan refugees in Pakistan (2001), food and shelter in Ethiopia during the famine in 1985 and houses rebuilt after the earthquake in Gujarat in India in 2001. The basis of these programmes is usually a well-established SOS Children's Village and in many cases they lead to the construction of a permanent SOS Children's Village and other facilities