Monday, October 09, 2006

COLLECTIVE EFFORT NEEDED TO REDUCE SUICIDE RATE IN TAIWAN: DOH

Taipei, Oct. 5 (CNA) It will take a collective effort on the part of government agencies and civic organizations to reduce the number of suicides, one of the most alarming social issues in Taiwan, a Department of Health (DOH) official said Thursday in an international symposium.

"Suicide is a global phenomenon. A single government agency is not enough to solve the problem and efforts from civic organizations are needed as well, " DOH Deputy Minister Chen Shih-chung said in the symposium, titled "Suicide is Preventable. "

According to the Taiwan Suicide Prevention Center (TSPC) , a record 4,282 people committed suicide in Taiwan last year, representing an average of 12 cases per day. Suicide has been among the top 10 causes of death in Taiwan for eight consecutive years.

Mental health service quality has to be improved and a community support system has to be organized, Chen said.

A three-stage strategy has been applied to prevent suicide, said TSPC President Lee Ming-been, in which universal prevention focuses on the entire population, while selective prevention focuses on high-risk groups and indicative prevention targets symptomatic and "marked" high-risk individuals.

Suicide prevention is a multi-layer work that includes public health, prevention, clinical therapeutics and health systems and services, said Eric Caines, a psychiatry professor at the University of Rochester, New York.

A "framework" of suicide prevention can only be established with the cooperation of the government and civic groups, according to Caines.