Jongno-gu Provides Free 'Household Care Service' for High-Risk Pregnant Women

If you wish to apply, bring a professional medical certificate or opinion letter and visit the nearest Dong Community Center or Health Center... A professionally trained home care worker will visit your home to provide cleaning, dishwashing, laundry, and organizing services.

[Asia Economy Reporter Jongil Park] Jongno-gu has been striving to contribute to alleviating the low birthrate issue by supporting healthy and safe childbirth from the pregnancy stage, aiming to create a community that is good for raising children.

Starting this month, in order to further strengthen support for pregnancy, childbirth, and parenting, free 'household care services' will be provided to high-risk pregnant women.

This support is in response to the increasing number of high-risk pregnant women aged 35 and older each year.

Accordingly, Jongno-gu has determined that tailored support is necessary for high-risk pregnant women who face higher risks compared to normal childbirth, and has decided to dispatch household caregivers to provide related services.

The target beneficiaries are high-risk pregnant women who have resided in the area for more than 10 months, including those with a history of miscarriage, premature birth, macrosomia, or family history of genetic diseases; pregnant women requiring absolute rest due to hypertension, diabetes, heart disease, etc.; and those with abnormal prenatal test results.

Those wishing to apply for the service should bring a specialist’s medical certificate or opinion to the nearest community service center or public health center. The service fee will be fully covered by the district budget regardless of income level.

Once selected, professionally trained household caregivers will visit and provide services such as cleaning, dishwashing, laundry, and organizing. The service can be used for up to 4 hours per day for a maximum of 10 days, with the option to split usage twice within 60 days.

Meanwhile, considering that the number of newborn residents has decreased to about 40 per month, Jongno-gu is making efforts to increase policy awareness by personally attending to infants and pregnant women.

Accordingly, starting this year, the district is promoting a ‘Baby Birth Celebration Project,’ including a ‘Tree Planting Event’ at Jongmyo Square Park to plant commemorative trees for infants under one year old and their families, and a ‘Our Baby Photo Posting Project’ using the district newsletter.

Additionally, to support healthy and balanced diets for pregnant women and young children and to assist farmers struggling due to the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic, all pregnant women in the area are provided with eco-friendly agricultural product packages worth approximately 410,000 KRW annually.

Due to early closure of the project that previously accepted applications on a first-come, first-served basis, additional district funds have been allocated to ensure that all unselected pregnant women can benefit, demonstrating careful consideration.

Kim Young-jong, the district mayor, stated, “Low birthrate is a national issue, but the local community cannot just stand by. We decided to provide household care services free of charge, fully funded by the district, to support healthy and safe childbirth from the pregnancy stage. We will strive to make Jongno a great place to raise children by supporting work-family balance for high-risk pregnant women.”

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