The Future Directions of Maternal and Child Health Policy for Women's Health Promotion in Korea.

Abstract

The social status of Korean women is still low despite the socio-economic development of Korea. The purpose of this paper is to find out maternal and child health(MCH) programs in public sectors, particularly as they are relate to women and suggest the future directions and development of strategies for women's health promotion in Korea. It has been a tremendous effort to improve of maternal health at both the government and private levels. It can be found maternal and child health policies and programmes related to women's health in Korea over the past four decades have focused mainly on population control or family planning and pregnant and postpartum mother's health to improve infant's health status not considered the broader picture of women's health. Few health policy decisions focusing on women. We should understand that the health of women is influenced not only by biomedical factors but also by socio-cultural factors. Despite of improving women's health thanks to socioeconomic development, no specific objectives on women's health have been set. Major strategies to improve of women's physical, psycho social health status are as follows. The Ten-Year(to the year 2020) Women's Health Development Plan need to be established by the governmental level, just not only involving the Ministry of Health and Social Affairs but also every Ministry related to women's welfare beyond MCH perspectives. Effective national policy formulation for women's health promotion requires the Law. The government should begin identifying the existing Laws related women's health and health statistics classified by gender, thereafter revise the relevant laws in order to develop better health promotion programs and intersectoral collaboration among themselves.