Suncheon City Provides Strong Support from Pregnancy Through Childbirth and Child-Rearing

【Financial News Suncheon=Reporter Hwang Tae-jong】 Suncheon City is providing strong support from pregnancy through childbirth and child-rearing.
 The initiative is intended to reduce the burden of raising children, respond to the challenges of low birth rates and population decline, and create a sustainable city.
 A Suncheon City official emphasized, "We are continuously expanding tailored support policies for each life stage so that families having children can reduce their financial burdens and anxiety during pregnancy, childbirth, and child-rearing, and raise their children in good health."
 Suncheon City first supports health screenings and medical expenses for newlywed and prospective couples planning a pregnancy, helping them prepare for a healthy pregnancy. Screening costs are covered up to 70,000 won per person for designated items, and the city also supports diagnostic testing and treatment costs for couples struggling with infertility. It further eases financial burdens and supports families hoping to conceive through assistance for traditional Korean medicine infertility treatments.


 Suncheon City also provides free prenatal tests for pregnant women within 10 weeks of pregnancy, including tests for rubella antibodies, hepatitis B antibodies, anemia, syphilis, and HIV (AIDS). The city provides pregnant women with folic acid and iron supplements needed during pregnancy to promote a healthy pregnancy and safe childbirth. It also covers fetal abnormality screening costs up to twice, based on the patient’s out-of-pocket expenses.
 Even after childbirth, the city provides 1 million won in postpartum care expenses per newborn to support the healthy recovery and growth of mothers and newborns. It also covers fees for using a public postpartum care center that provides safe and systematic postpartum care services for mothers and newborns. In addition, Suncheon City is implementing an early-life health management program in which professional nurses and social workers visit childbirth households to manage the health and child-rearing of pregnant women and infants under 24 months old.
 The city is also implementing various measures to ease the child-rearing burden on families with children. For children born on or after January 1, 2023, it provides childbirth incentive payments ranging from 5 million won to a maximum of 20 million won, depending on birth order, through age five. For children born on or after January 1, 2024, who have reached age one, the city provides 200,000 won per month in birth basic income until age 18. It is also implementing the First Encounter Voucher Program, which provides National Happiness Voucher cards worth 2 million won for a first child and 3 million won for a second or subsequent child.
 For preschool children, the city operates a Child Love Maternity and Childcare Product Rental Center. It is also strengthening support for families with multiple children by providing 200,000 won for a second child and 500,000 won for a third or subsequent child to purchase childcare products.
 Suncheon City is also implementing medical expense support programs for premature infants and children with congenital abnormalities, as well as screening for congenital metabolic disorders and care for affected children, congenital hearing-loss screening and hearing-aid support, and coverage of detailed developmental examination costs for infants and young children. The city is easing financial burdens by providing medical expense support for high-risk pregnant women, including those experiencing preterm labor or premature rupture of membranes, as well as medical expense support for adolescent mothers’ pregnancy and childbirth.
 A Suncheon City official said, "We will continue to make support at each life stage more comprehensive so that having and raising children becomes a happy choice rather than a burden, and we will build a happy Suncheon where the laughter of children never ceases."

[email protected] Hwang Tae-jong Reporter