The number of female-headed households has seen an upswing from 1.2 million in 1991 to 2.5 million in 2015, posting a 55 percent increase.
Emotional deprivation, addiction to industrial drugs and lack of quality time all add to social vulnerability, Khabaronline quoted the head of the State Welfare Organization (SWO), Anoushiravan Mohseni Bandpei as saying.
“SWO data shows a dramatic rise in social vulnerability across the country.” He pointed to the provision of wider coverage in screening tests for newborns in the Sixth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (starts March 2016) from 67% at present to 100 % to help prevent potential harm.
He stressed the necessity of extensive professional services and comprehensive rehabilitation centers to redress the problem. “We have set up over 1,000 genetic centers to implement early diagnosis and prevention, created 1,000 counseling centers, 5,000 social communities, 2,500 rehabilitation centers and 178 social emergency units across the country.”
He also pointed to cooperation with nongovernment organizations in this regard.”We are willing to cooperate with NGOs. There are 27,000 NGOs currently active under the supervision of the SWO,” he added.
