Gwangju City and Medical Community Join Hands to Make Gwangju a Better Place to Have and Raise Children

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] Gwangju Metropolitan City and the Gwangju Medical Association, along with the medical community in the Gwangju area, have joined hands in the core policy of the 7th local government of Gwangju, "Making Gwangju a Good Place to Have and Raise Children."

Gwangju City announced on the 8th that it signed a "Mutual Cooperation Agreement for Making Gwangju a Good Place to Have and Raise Children."

The signing ceremony was attended by Mayor Lee Yong-seop, Park Yoo-hwan, president of the Gwangju Medical Association, Vice President Oh Young-hyun, and representatives of local obstetrics and gynecology and pediatrics departments, including Lee Hyun-soo, director of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Mizpia Hospital, and Choi Chang-sun, director of Pediatrics at iFirst Children's Hospital.

Through the agreement, they decided to focus on promoting mutual cooperation in areas such as ▲ enhancing understanding and cooperation for "Making Gwangju a Good Place to Have and Raise Children" ▲ creating a pregnancy and childbirth-friendly environment ▲ publicizing support policies for each life cycle to citizens ▲ sharing and utilizing the integrated information platform "Gwangju Aikiwoom."

To this end, Gwangju City and the partner organizations plan to cooperate to realize "Making Gwangju a Good Place to Have and Raise Children" by promoting at citizen contact points, such as providing comprehensive guides on support policies for each life cycle to visitors of medical institutions and screening policy promotional videos, so that citizens can conveniently know and use the information.

With the agreement with local medical institutions directly related to pregnancy and childbirth, Gwangju City's policy of "Making Gwangju a Good Place to Have and Raise Children" is expected to gain more momentum.

Since July 2019, Gwangju City has been promoting a series of policies to create a good environment for having and raising children, implementing support policies for six life cycle stages including meeting, marriage, pregnancy, birth, childcare, and work-life balance, to strengthen the responsibility and public nature of care services.

Meanwhile, as Gwangju City's low birthrate overcoming policy has led to visible results, the total fertility rate in the Gwangju area, which had been continuously declining until last year, rebounded from January to March this year, increasing by 6.8% compared to the same quarter of the previous year.

This marks the first increase in six years, and among the 17 cities and provinces, Gwangju is the only place where the total fertility rate increased in the first quarter of this year.

Park Yoo-hwan, president of the Gwangju Medical Association, stated, "The decrease in the number of births is due to concerns about childcare and caregiving. If worries about childcare and caregiving are alleviated and a culture of considerate treatment for pregnant women without prejudice is established in the local community, the birth rate will also increase."

Mayor Lee Yong-seop said, "We must now take the lead in solving the era's problem of low birthrate, and we all need to gather our strength and wisdom to raise children healthily and protect a sustainable future," adding, "I hope today's agreement will be a driving force to overcome the low birthrate problem, establish Gwangju as the center of South Korea, and lead the world and the future."

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