Today (11 July) marks the 34th World Population Day, and the continent's theme is "Promoting Gender Equality and Protecting the Health of Women and Children".
Improve the chain of birth defect prevention and control
Improve the quality of the birth population
Having healthy children is the common expectation of every family. In recent years, the National Health Commission and relevant departments have actively promoted the comprehensive prevention and treatment of birth defects, especially the equalization of birth defect prevention and treatment services, and established a three-level prevention and treatment system covering the whole chain.
There are many types of birth defects and complex etiology, and there are more than 8,000 known birth defects. People are more familiar with congenital heart disease, physical disability, cleft lip and palate, etc. The mainland regards the prevention and treatment of birth defects as an important part of maternal and child health services, and arranges key projects related to the prevention and treatment of birth defects such as supplementation of folic acid to prevent neural tube defects and pre-pregnancy eugenic health examinations in the country's basic public health services, and provides basic health care services throughout childbirth with central financial support, benefiting more than 10 million families nationwide every year.
At present, the level of equalization of comprehensive birth defect prevention and treatment services in mainland China has been significantly improved, and since 2009, a total of 130 million rural women giving birth have been supplemented with folic acid; the national marriage examination rate has increased from 41.9% in 2011 to 70.9% in 2021, and the national prenatal screening rate has increased from 22.7% in 2011 to 85.7% in 2021. In the neonatal stage, the screening rate of neonatal genetic metabolic diseases and hearing impairment has reached more than 90%, and the mainland has formed a comprehensive prevention and treatment strategy with Chinese characteristics that integrates tertiary preventive measures and maternal and child health services.
Song Li, director of the Department of Maternal and Child Health of the National Health Commission: Primary prevention requires the premarital and pre-pregnancy thresholds to prevent birth defects from occurring through services such as premarital health care, health education, preconception health examination, folic acid supplementation, and prevention of neural tube defects; Secondary prevention further reduces serious fatal teratogenic birth defects by providing a full range of maternal health services and strengthening prenatal screening, prenatal diagnosis and intervention; In terms of tertiary prevention, it is necessary to do a good job in the postnatal threshold, and the birth defects that occur should be detected and intervened as soon as possible, so as to be able to recover as soon as possible and minimize the disability caused by birth defects.
Policies are introduced in various places
Reduce the burden of family reproduction, parenting and education
In recent years, various localities have successively introduced birth support policies to effectively reduce the burden of family childbirth, parenting, education and other aspects.
Childcare subsidies have become one of the important measures to encourage childbirth in various places. Since July 2021, Sichuan Panzhihua has taken the lead in providing a childcare subsidy of 500 yuan per child per month to Panzhihua families with two and three children until the child is 3 years old.
In terms of medical treatment, all localities have promoted the inclusion of fertility medical services into medical insurance payments. Since July 1 this year, Beijing has included 16 assisted reproduction items such as ovulation induction examination and embryo transfer into the scope of outpatient reimbursement of basic medical insurance. For newborns whose parents are registered in the city, inpatient medical expenses incurred after birth can be settled in real time at designated medical institutions.
In terms of housing, Changsha City stipulates that those who meet the conditions for the recognition of the house purchase policy for families with two children or more can add one house purchase index to the original family limit of 2 sets.
Guangdong will include the number and composition of households in the waiting list or comprehensive scoring factors of public rental housing, and include eligible families with a large number of children in the scope of priority rent allocation.
Most provinces have extended maternity leave and clarified parental leave. Zhejiang stipulates that on the basis of enjoying the maternity leave stipulated by the state, the woman shall extend the maternity leave by 60 days for one child and 90 days for the second and third children.
Fujian stipulates that before a child reaches the age of three, both husband and wife shall be granted 10 days of childcare leave each year, and during the childcare leave, the salary and welfare benefits shall remain unchanged.