Haenam-gun Awarded 'Grand Prize' in Jeollanam-do Low Birthrate Countermeasure Evaluation

Achievements in Population Policies Linking Youth with Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Parenting

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Hyun] Haenam-gun (Governor Myeong Hyun-gwan) received the grand prize in the Jeollanam-do low birthrate countermeasure city and county evaluation.

According to Haenam-gun on the 15th, the Jeollanam-do low birthrate countermeasure evaluation is conducted on three categories and seven indicators, including excellent cases, fertility rate and number of births, and efforts in project implementation, to respond to the population decline problem caused by low birthrate and to encourage active policy discovery and promotion.

Haenam-gun established the Population Policy Division through an organizational restructuring last year, laying the policy foundation linking youth, marriage, pregnancy, childbirth, parenting, and childcare policies, and is promoting pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting as a social policy jointly overcome by the public and private sectors.

As marriage and youth policies, a youth policy council is organized and operated, and projects such as the construction of an offline youth platform ‘Youth Cafe’, creation of a youth food culture creative campus, support for marriage encouragement funds and moving-in congratulatory money, and interest support for newlywed couple housing loans are being promoted.

Various pregnancy and childbirth projects are also underway, including one-stop medical services for delivery and postpartum care, nutritional support for pregnant women, 90% support for out-of-pocket expenses for maternal and newborn health management, support for out-of-pocket expenses for infertility treatment for couples, and pilot projects for early life health management.

For parenting and childcare, support for basic expenses for second and subsequent births, health insurance enrollment and school uniform and tuition support for third and subsequent children, promotion of the construction of the Ttangkkeut Family Harmony Center, opening and operation of a toy library, and drive-through toy rental services have created an environment for having and raising children.

This year, the 6th non-face-to-face Child Love Stroller Festival ‘Together Apart’ was held for citizens exhausted by COVID-19, contributing to the formation of a consensus in the local community to overcome low birthrate.

The toy and childcare product sharing free market ‘Congratulations, Our Child Was Born’ published in local newspapers, and newborn free naming support linked with talent donation are attracting attention as public-private joint efforts to create an atmosphere to overcome low birthrate.

Governor Myeong Hyun-gwan said, “Haenam-gun’s advanced low birthrate countermeasures have received a good evaluation by winning the grand prize,” and added, “We will continue to strengthen the social responsibility of pregnancy and childbirth, discover and promote integrated service support linking childcare and welfare after childbirth, and low birthrate countermeasures, and do our best to make Haenam a place where children are happy and raised together.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.