Shenzhen builds more mother-and-baby rooms in public areas

As of July, 845 mother-and-baby rooms had been in use in public places in Shenzhen, a city in south China's Guangdong province, according to the Shenzhen Women's Federation and the Office of Shenzhen Working Committee on Children and Women (SWCCW).

It is expected to provide more than 1,000 rooms for breastfeeding women in the city by the end of this year.

According to the statistics, Shenzhen has more than 200,000 newborns every year, and the demand for breastfeeding rooms is increasing.

The Office of the SWCCW has rolled out a map navigation system of mother-and-baby rooms, making it easier for local people to find such facilities. At present, all the 845 completed rooms in public areas have been added into the map system. The locals have access to the map through the official WeChat accounts of the Shenzhen Women and Children's Development Foundation, the women's federations of the city and its districts.

In recent years, public nursing rooms for breastfeeding women have become popular in Shenzhen. Although the size, facilities and environment of each room are not the same, they all feature necessities such as chairs, baby-care tables and wash basins.

Some are even equipped with facilities such as disinfection cabinets, milk warming devices and microwave ovens, and employ workers in charge of cleaning and disinfecting. During the epidemic period, special efforts have been made to disinfect and ventilate the rooms, and replace items in time.

Shenzhen also calls on all sectors of society to jointly supervise the daily operation of the baby-care rooms.

Shenzhen is the first city in China to include the coverage of public mother-and-baby rooms into the index system of the Shenzhen Women's Development Plan.

In June 2016, the office launched a survey on the situation of mother-and-baby rooms in public places. Later, Shenzhen accelerated the implementation of China's first Child Friendly City Initiative, and promoted the establishment of mother-and-baby rooms as one of the city's key projects.