The Regional Secretary for Social Solidarity stated in Horta that the Azores currently have the best infrastructures in the country in the area of social intervention.
 
"This is a factor that makes us feel proud because we now have the best infrastructures in the country to support several social intervention areas," said Andreia Cardoso. The government official spoke at the presentation ceremony of the construction project of the Day Centre of Divino Espírito Santo Community Centre, which she presided over on behalf of the President of the Government.
 
The new structure, which involves a Government's investment of about one million Euros, will be located in the village of Flamengos. It will have capacity for 30 users in the Day Centre and 20 users in the Social Centre.
 
"The investment in infrastructures is just one component of the social policy" pursued by the Azorean Government, the Regional Secretary stressed, noting that it also includes a wide range of direct support measures to the Azorean population. These measures have been reinforced the Autonomy that "distinguish us from the rest from the country."
 
In addition to the investment in differentiated responses aimed at the elderly population, Andreia Cardoso stressed all efforts made by the Government of the Azores towards the expansion of home support services in the archipelago.
 
The goal is "to facilitate the access of older people to these services," the government official said, stressing other measures such as the Regional Pension Supplement or COMPAMID; the latter consists of a supplement o the purchase of medicine.
 
Andreia Cardoso said the ageing of the population should not be regarded as a problem but rather as a challenge. In this context, she stressed that the approach to this phenomenon "implies the creation of responses that fall under the population's needs," recalling the recently published adjustments to the reimbursement of these services.
 
In her speech, Andreia Cardoso also stressed that the public tender for the construction of the Day Centre was also published in the Official Gazette.