Cuban eastern province focuses its work on social assistance

LAS TUNAS, Cuba, Nov 21 (ACN) The first and most basic opportunity provided by the nearly 130 social workers of the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (MTSS by its Spanish acronym) in the municipality of Las Tunas is to help people in optimal physical and mental conditions, members of families recognized as vulnerable, to find employment.

With some 2,075 households and almost 3,800 beneficiaries in economically difficult circumstances, the MTSS provides families with temporary monetary assistance in order to cover their basic needs.

Yanelis Suarez, head of the prevention, assistance and social work department of the entity, exclusively told the Cuban News Agency that they keep monitoring 152 districts located in 13 financially complex neighborhoods.

The concept of vulnerability that we deal with is oriented to the economic situation, but also to those people with exceptional health situations that prevent them from carrying out work activities; attention is always given to the nucleus, not to the particular person, unless it is a case of the elderly with no obligated family members, the directive added.

The World Food Program in Las Tunas began since October with the delivery of food modules in the network of almost 700 warehouses, with supplies including rice, beans, oil and others, for the support of more than 9,000 households that are supported by the MTSS in the province.

This year the state budget allocated 279 million pesos for social assistance to people in 41 communities in the eight municipalities of Tunas, a figure that seeks to mitigate the effects of the economic crisis through social assistance in different circumstances by means of subsidies, pensions and inclusion in the economic system of each locality.