Postpartum support for mothers to cope with depression and other mental health maladies is still hard to come by despite government efforts in recent years to promote it, a survey shows.
Funding and staff shortages are the major obstacles to making such support more widely available, the nationwide survey showed Saturday. It was conducted in January and February by the Mizuho Information & Research Institute for the health ministry.
Only 26.2 percent of the 1,384 municipalities that responded offer postpartum support services, even though the central government has been offering subsidies since fiscal 2015 to finance half of the running cost, the survey showed.