SOS Children: Medical and Social Centres

SOS Medical and Social Centres

SOS Children is the world’s largest orphan charity. We directly help over 70,000 children in our family-based SOS Children's Villages in 124 countries around the world. We give children who have nothing and no one a family, a home, an education and a future.

SOS Children also helps more than 750,000 orphaned and vulnerable children and their families in the communities near the villages. Much of this work is done through SOS Medical Centres and SOS Social Centres. Typically, Medical Centres mainly offer medical care to the community managed by a doctor and Social Centres offer a wider range of projects and have nurse led clinics in them. The work of the centres meets local needs - helping to strengthen families and to prevent the abandonment of children.

SOS Medical Centres

There are 75 SOS Medical Centres – 60 in Africa, 4 in Latin America, 10 in Asia and 1 in Western Europe. Between them they see over 350,000 patients every year. That’s over 100 patients in every SOS Medical Centre every week of the year. SOS Medical Centres meet the basic medical needs of the local communities. In addition they help to improve the standard of health in the communities, to reduce infant mortality and to prevent disease through immunisation and education. Their work has become especially relevant in the treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS and related illnesses not only in Southern Africa but also in Asia, Latin America and Eastern Europe.

SOS Social Centres

There are 576 SOS Social Centres – 152 in Africa, 169 in Latin America, 115 in Asia and 89 in Eastern Europe, the rest are in Western Europe. Between them they help over 150,000 orphaned and vulnerable children and their families. SOS Social Centres help families, especially women and children, to escape from the poverty trap.  Many of these are interchangeable with Family Strengthening Programmes. They also help young people to become independent. In addition they help communities to help themselves. Each SOS Social Centre is designed to meet local needs. For example in Belarus, the SOS Social Centre helps children and families affected by radiation sickness after the nuclear reactor disaster at Chernobyl in 1986.

Click on a continent below, or select  a title on the right, to read more about the community based projects that SOS Children runs worldwide.  See about SOS Children for details of how to help the work of SOS Children around the world.