BEIJING: Playful, vibrant decorations now adorn the walls of a community health service center in Beijing after it revamped its child vaccination unit as part of efforts to improve nursery care services.
Moreover, during the postvaccination observation period, the center offers families parent-child activities, scientific parenting guidance and postnatal care education.
Wen Chengyang, head of the childcare service management center in Beijing’s Changping district, said that the change stems from a central finance-subsidized initiative that integrates community healthcare services with nursery care.
In China, the lack of accessible, high-quality nursery care services is seen as a key factor discouraging young couples from having children.
Amid declining birthrates, the nation has ramped up efforts to expand childcare services, aiming to increase care slots for children age 3 and under to 4.5 per 1,000 people by the end of this year. That figure was 1.8 in 2020. Changping district’s community health center recently opened its own nursery care facility, adding 60 new care slots. “The monthly fee for a nursery care slot in the district has dropped from around 6,860 yuan ($957) last year to no more than 2,160 yuan now,” said Wen.
“This means each family with a newborn can save up to 56,400 yuan annually.”
Guo Yanhong, vice-minister of the National Health Commission, said on Friday that the number of nursery care slots has increased by over 20 percent annually for three consecutive years in China, with county-level childcare coverage reaching 98.5 percent.
“Affordable childcare services are becoming more accessible, convenient and of higher quality,” she said during an event marking World Population Day on Friday. –The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
