Jeonnam Province Eliminates Cases of Eligible Recipients Missing Out on 'Marriage, Pregnancy, and Childbirth Support' Due to Lack of Awareness

Publication of Revised Edition of Childbirth Support Booklet at a Glance

Jeonnam Province is making efforts to ensure that eligible individuals do not miss out on support due to lack of awareness about marriage, pregnancy, and childbirth support policies.

On the 10th, the province announced the publication of a revised edition of the booklet "Childbirth Support at a Glance," which organizes new and revised projects such as "Pre-pregnancy Health Management Support" in an easy-to-understand manner.

The "Childbirth Support at a Glance" booklet has been published annually, but this year, due to many newly implemented and revised projects since the last publication, the revised edition was produced again to prevent confusion among residents.

The booklet is designed as a compact handbook for easy portability. It was distributed to multi-use facilities such as city, county, and township offices, public health centers, and social organization federations to ensure easy access for residents. It is also available for download on the Jeonnam Province website.

The main new projects include the "Pre-pregnancy Health Management Support Project" for couples hoping to conceive, the "Frozen Egg Procedure Cost Support Project" for fertility preservation, and the "Frozen Egg Usage Assisted Reproductive Technology Support Project."

The "Pre-pregnancy Health Management Support Project" provides essential fertility testing costs (up to 130,000 KRW for women and 50,000 KRW for men) to couples wishing to have children (including common-law and prospective couples), offering an opportunity to detect potential obstacles before pregnancy at an early stage.

The "Frozen Egg Procedure Cost Support Project" targets women aged 30 to 40 who have resided in Jeonnam for more than six months and have an ovarian function test score of 1.5 or below.

To preserve fertility, 50% of the cost for egg freezing procedures (up to 2 million KRW, supported once) is provided. Women in their 20s with a possibility of premature menopause (ovarian function test score below 1.0) are also eligible for support.

Marital status does not affect eligibility, but applicants must fall within 180% of the median income standard. This support cannot be combined with infertility treatment cost support.

The "Frozen Egg Usage Assisted Reproductive Technology Support Project" is a new initiative to alleviate the financial burden on couples undergoing assisted reproductive technology using frozen eggs. Support is provided up to twice per couple, with 1 million KRW per session. Overlapping support with infertility treatment cost support is not allowed.

The main revisions include relaxation of income and residency criteria and expansion of project scale.

Support for infertility treatment costs, medical expenses for high-risk pregnant women, and pre-health management for infants and toddlers have been improved by abolishing the 180% median income limit, allowing anyone to use these services.

The Early Life Health Management Service Project, which provides customized health management services through visits by professionals such as nurses to childbirth families, has expanded from the original 11 cities and counties to 12 this year with the addition of Yeongam County (including Suncheon, Gwangyang, Damyang, Goheung, Hwasun, Jangheung, Gangjin, Haenam, Yeongam, Jangseong, and Jindo).

The Jeonnam-type infertility treatment cost support project, which originally supported only infertile couples residing in the province for more than one year, has relaxed the residency requirement to six months.

Kim Myung-shin, Director of the Population and Youth Policy Division of Jeonnam Province, said, "We will do our best to promote the pregnancy and childbirth support projects implemented by Jeonnam Province so that no couples miss out due to lack of awareness," and added, "We will continue to expand childbirth support policies that residents truly need, such as improving childbirth and child-rearing environments and expanding support for families with multiple children."