E China City Releases Latest Plans for Women, Children's De

The 16th people's congress of Jinan, capital of east China's Shandong Province, opened its second session on January 8. Wang Zhonglin, deputy secretary and mayor of Jinan Municipal Party Committee, delivered a government work report at the meeting.

Under the guidance of the city's 13th Five-Year Plan (2016-2020) for local women and children's development, the work report highlighted six issues concerning livelihood improvement to meet women and children's diversified demands.
The work report urges relevant departments to strengthen the physical and psychological protection of children at home, and in schools, kindergartens and other public places.

The report also asks relevant departments to tighten supervision on baby food, children's medicine, toys and entertainment facilities to ensure they meet safety standards; reduce the negative effects of environmental pollution on children's health; and lower the rate of children's death and disabilities caused by accidents.

For the first time, the report proposes that enterprises offer training to women who return to work after maternity leave, and set up special mother-and-baby rooms in public places and companies where high numbers of female staff are of child-bearing age.
If either a husband or wife has a local household registration, free prenatal screening services will be provided for pregnant women under 35, according to the proposal.

The government will train 23,000 women and put 170,000 unemployed women into work with the help of Sunshine Sister, a domestic service company. At the same time, relevant departments will adjust employment assistance and subsidy standards, raise social security allowances for people who cannot settle down in a short time and strengthen targeted poverty alleviation.

In addition, 30,000 physically-impaired children and adults in Jinan will receive accurate rehabilitation services this year. The success rate of such rehabilitation services is expected to reach over 80 percent, the report says.

Moreover, it proposes to improve maternal and children's health services and facilities; strengthen prevention and treatment of birth defects; cut the mortality rate of major illnesses of newborns; and build more low-cost public kindergartens.

(Source: China Women's News/Translated and edited by )