Naju-si Supports Pregnant Women with 'Household Care Service'... Creating a Childbirth-Friendly Environment

[Naju=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yuk-bong] Naju City, Jeollanam-do, will support a ‘household care service’ that helps pregnant women with housework starting this year to create a better childbirth environment.

According to the city on the 5th, the ‘household care for pregnant women’ was discovered as a new policy in the 8th local government administration to complement existing childbirth support policies that focused on postnatal or newborn support.

This is to prepare for the increase in high-risk pregnant women due to delayed marriage and pregnancy/childbirth caused by women’s economic activities, and to support healthy pregnancy and childbirth.

This project supports high-risk pregnant women, multiple births, and families with a second child among pregnant women residing in the jurisdiction for more than six months, from 6 months pregnant (21 weeks) to the expected delivery date, regardless of income.

Professional housekeeping personnel will be dispatched for 3 hours per session, totaling 5 sessions, to assist with various housework such as cleaning, dishwashing, and laundry, aiming to promote a stable pregnancy life and childbirth for pregnant women’s families.

The city allocated 102.8 million won in the main budget this year to support the service and will prioritize providing the service to 300 pregnant women on a first-come, first-served basis starting at the end of this month.

Additionally, through consultations with the Ministry of Health and Welfare and social security system and supplementary budget allocation, the city plans to significantly expand the number of beneficiaries in the second half of the year.

In particular, to accommodate pregnant women with mobility difficulties when applying for the service, the city is completing the construction of a jointly developed website (Naju Helper) with the Korea Internet & Security Agency and Jeonnam Information & Culture Industry Promotion Agency by the end of this month, allowing online applications instead of visiting the health center.

The city health center signed a contract this month with ‘Dasun Cooperative’ for ‘provision of personnel and education support services for household care service for pregnant women’ to ensure smooth service delivery.

Since the launch of the 8th local government administration, the city has been focusing all efforts on overcoming the national challenge of low birth rates and creating a pregnancy and childbirth-friendly environment that is ‘good for having and raising children.’

The city is also making every effort to provide customized pregnancy and childbirth support according to the stages of ‘before and after pregnancy’ and ‘postpartum.’

Starting from the 8th local government administration, the city supports all infertile couples’ treatment costs regardless of income, and childbirth incentives without residency period conditions (1 million won for the first child, 2 million won for the second child, and 3 million won from the third child onwards), including this household care service for pregnant women.

Before pregnancy, support is provided for ‘infertile couples,’ ‘prenatal checkups for women of childbearing age,’ and ‘health checkups for newlyweds (prospective couples),’ while after pregnancy, support includes ‘medical expenses for teenage mothers’ pregnancy and childbirth’ and ‘nutritional supplements for pregnant women.’

For families embracing new life, the city promotes extensive support measures such as ‘maternal and newborn health care,’ ‘public postpartum care center fee reductions,’ ‘medical expenses for high-risk pregnant women,’ ‘first meeting vouchers,’ ‘childbirth incentives,’ ‘childbirth congratulatory goods,’ ‘medical expenses for premature and congenital anomaly infants,’ ‘support for congenital metabolic disorder testing and patient management,’ ‘congenital hearing loss testing and hearing aids,’ ‘diapers and formula for low-income families,’ and ‘detailed developmental disorder testing expenses for infants and toddlers.’

Mayor Yoon Byung-tae said, “I hope this helps pregnant women’s families reduce the burden of housework not only after childbirth but also before childbirth and maintain a healthy pregnancy life,” adding, “We will do our best to ensure that support benefits are evenly distributed to couples preparing for pregnancy and all childbirth families regardless of income standards or residency period through pregnancy and childbirth policy promotion.”

Naju=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yuk-bong baekok@asiae.co.kr