Akita Suicide Prevention
Akita ups spending to prevent suicides
"Akita Prefecture, which has had the nation's highest suicide rates for the past 10 years, plans to launch a new prevention campaign this month.
The 5.72-million-yen program will focus on mental health in the workplace and helping people recover from economic hardship. It will also provide free telephone counseling.
The prefectural government will also give leaflets on suicide prevention to all households in the prefecture.
The alarming pace of suicides this year has prompted the urgency of the program. As of the end of August, 328 people in the prefecture had committed suicide, 13 more than in the same time period last year.
"We want to stop the fast pace this year so that a decline in the rates takes root," said an official with the prefectural government's Health Policy Division.
In all of Japan, the annual number of suicides has topped 30,000 for the past seven years.
The Akita prefectural government started suicide prevention projects in fiscal 2000.
However, the number of suicides kept increasing, topping 500 a year for the first time in 2003, at 519.
The prefecture's suicide rate that year was 44.6 persons per 100,000, the highest ever for the prefecture and 1.7 times higher than the national average.
Last year, the annual number of suicides in the prefecture decreased to 452, but Akita Prefecture still had the highest rate in Japan.."
The Asahi Shimbun/International Herald Tribune, October 10, 2005
"Akita Prefecture, which has had the nation's highest suicide rates for the past 10 years, plans to launch a new prevention campaign this month.
The 5.72-million-yen program will focus on mental health in the workplace and helping people recover from economic hardship. It will also provide free telephone counseling.
The prefectural government will also give leaflets on suicide prevention to all households in the prefecture.
The alarming pace of suicides this year has prompted the urgency of the program. As of the end of August, 328 people in the prefecture had committed suicide, 13 more than in the same time period last year.
"We want to stop the fast pace this year so that a decline in the rates takes root," said an official with the prefectural government's Health Policy Division.
In all of Japan, the annual number of suicides has topped 30,000 for the past seven years.
The Akita prefectural government started suicide prevention projects in fiscal 2000.
However, the number of suicides kept increasing, topping 500 a year for the first time in 2003, at 519.
The prefecture's suicide rate that year was 44.6 persons per 100,000, the highest ever for the prefecture and 1.7 times higher than the national average.
Last year, the annual number of suicides in the prefecture decreased to 452, but Akita Prefecture still had the highest rate in Japan.."
The Asahi Shimbun/International Herald Tribune, October 10, 2005
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