Incheon City 'Early Life Health Management' Pilot Project... Targeting 400 Households in Namdong-gu

Incheon City will start a life-cycle early health management project from this year.

The city announced on the 15th that, following Namdong-gu's selection in the Ministry of Health and Welfare's pilot project contest, it will implement the life-cycle early health management project from March targeting 400 households with registered pregnant women at health centers and infants under 2 years old.

This project involves nurses and social workers who have completed specialized training visiting the households to provide customized health management services tailored to each recipient, including health and infant development counseling and parenting education for mothers and newborns. The main goal of the project is to support the healthy growth and development of children through continuous intervention in high-risk families, such as those with maternal depression.

To receive the service, pregnant women must first register and apply for the project. Any pregnant woman or family with a newborn residing in Namdong-gu can apply regardless of income level. Recipients are classified into general and high-risk groups after undergoing socio-psychological evaluations, including economic vulnerability, psychological tests for depression, smoking and drinking habits, parenting environment and support status, and experiences of infant abuse.

General group pregnant women receive at least one visit within 8 weeks after childbirth to check the infant's growth status and provide basic health care support, while high-risk groups receive continuous visits (at least once a month) from prenatal stages until the child turns 2 years old, offering mother-child health counseling and community relationship-building services.

Status of Births in Namdong-gu, Incheon

Namdong-gu, selected as the pilot area this year, had a registered population of 506,191 as of 2022, with 115,221 women of childbearing age (15-49 years) accounting for 22.8%, and 6,834 infants under 2 years old making up 1.4%.

The total fertility rate (the average number of children a woman is expected to have during her childbearing years) dropped from 0.92 in 2019 to 0.66 in 2022, which is lower than the national average (0.78) and Incheon average (0.75). The number of births also sharply decreased from 3,333 in 2019 to 2,831 in 2020, 2,446 in 2021, and 2,157 in 2022.

An official from Incheon City stated, "The life-cycle early health management project will help recover the low birth rate in Namdong-gu and create a better childbirth and childcare environment. Especially, Namdong-gu has had a relatively high registration rate of pregnant women compared to the number of births over the past four years, so we expect this project to be highly effective."