Gangneung City Strengthens Maternal and Child Health Support to Make Pregnancy and Childbirth a Happy Choice

From Pregnancy Preparation
to Postpartum Tailored Support

Gangneung City in Gangwon Province announced on February 10 that it will strengthen its maternal and child health policies to substantially ease the burden on pregnant women and families raising children, through a full life-cycle support system that covers everything from pre-pregnancy preparation to infant and toddler health management after childbirth.

View of Gangneung City Hall.

The city is systematically implementing customized, stage-by-stage maternal and child health programs tailored to the life cycle before, during, and after pregnancy, including pre-pregnancy and early pregnancy health management, childbirth support, and infant and toddler health management.

First, at the pre-pregnancy stage, through the pre-pregnancy health management support program, the city subsidizes examination fees for Gangneung residents aged 20 to 49 who wish to undergo fertility tests (AMH, gynecological ultrasound, and detailed semen analysis). Women can receive up to 130,000 won, and men can receive up to 50,000 won in support.

The infertility treatment cost support program provides coverage for treatment costs up to 25 times per birth for infertile couples, with subsidies ranging from at least 300,000 won to 1.1 million won. In particular, starting this year, the validity period of the treatment cost support notification has been extended from three months to six months, allowing couples more time to prepare for treatment.

After childbirth, through the postpartum care cost support program, mothers who have resided in Gangneung for at least six months as of their newborn's date of birth receive up to 500,000 won in local currency. Last year, 600 people received this support, helping to ease the financial burden on families with newborns and contributing to healthy postpartum recovery for mothers.

In addition, under the maternal and newborn health management program, the city dispatches health managers to families with newborns to support mothers' postpartum recovery and provide newborn care services. Along with this, for low-income families with infants under 2 years of age, the diaper and formula support program provides up to 90,000 won per month for diapers and 110,000 won per month for formula for up to 24 months. From July this year, the eligibility criteria for households with persons with disabilities and multi-child households (two or more children) will be eased from 80% or less of the median income to 100% or less of the median income.

In addition, the eligibility criteria for the Nutrition Plus program have been changed from health insurance premium payment amounts to an income and asset survey method, thereby strengthening fairness, and the upper limit on medical expense support for children with congenital anomalies and premature infants has been raised, which is expected to provide significant help to families struggling with treatment costs.

Kim Yooyoung, head of the Health Promotion Division, said, "We will continue to push forward with practical maternal and child health policies that reduce the burden on pregnant women and families raising children in a way that citizens can truly feel, across the entire life cycle from pregnancy preparation to infant and toddler health management after childbirth."

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