Citation

Chen CY, Chan CT, Wu CY, Liao CC, Lee MB. J. Suicidol. (Taipei) 2023; 18(3): 633-642.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Taiwanese Society of Suicidology, Publisher Airiti)

DOI

10.30126/JoS.202309_18(3).0007

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

Suicide is a global health and social issue. In Taiwan, suicide prevention has become a national health priority of the government for nearly two decades. The central government established the national Taiwan Suicide Prevention Center (TSPC) and implemented the national prevention strategies in 2005. However, there are still challenges in suicide prevention. Many people at suicide risk still lack access to mental health and social services. In addition, the inappropriate reporting of suicide incidents by the news media and the rapid dissemination of wrong information by social media led to imitation behaviors (copycat) of some high-risk suicide people. Thus, the Taiwanese Society of Suicidology (TSOS) initiated a task force in 2013, involving multi-interdisciplinary experts from mental health care and justice, and held three times of public hearings to prepare the Suicide Prevention Act (SPA). The final draft of the SPA was sent to the Ministry of Health and Welfare for approval in 2018. Through continued promotion by TSOS, the draft of SPA was submitted to the Social Welfare and Health Environment Committee of the Legislative Yuan for review on May 10, 2019, and was finally promulgated by the President on June 19. This article presented the contents and implementation of SPA as well as its short-term outcome in three years.

Language: en