China to establish infant care service system

A set of standards and norms on the care of infants under three will be promulgated in China, China Women's News reported on Jan 10.

The government will initially establish the infant care service system with policy support and standards in 2020, aiming to make infant care services more professional and regulated, said the newspaper.

China now has about 50 million infants under the age of three. The number is expected to rise as the country has removed the one-child policy.

However, China still lags behind in terms of providing enough care services for infants. In 2016, 35.8 percent of families in China had the demand for infant-care services, while only 4.1 percent of the infants were enrolled in various care institutions, according to the newspaper.

In addition to the small number of care centers for infants under three, problems including the lack of industry standards and shortage of infant care-related professionals are becoming more prominent, the newspaper said.

In recent years, China has rolled out measures to strengthen the supervision over infant-care providers and improve the professional skills of infant caregivers.