Naju-si Receives 'Excellence Award' at National Assembly Suicide Prevention Awards

[Naju=Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Lee Han-hyuk] Naju City, Jeollanam-do (Mayor Kang In-gyu) announced on the 27th that it was selected as an excellent local government for suicide prevention activities at the 2nd National Assembly Suicide Prevention Awards in 2020 and received the 'Excellence Award' from the National Assembly Suicide Prevention Forum.

The National Assembly Suicide Prevention Awards, hosted by the National Assembly Suicide Prevention Forum, the Life Insurance Social Contribution Committee, and the Citizens' Safety Practice Association, selects winners by investigating and evaluating various projects related to suicide prevention across 229 local governments nationwide.

The city quantified and scored factors such as 'suicide rate increase/decrease,' 'organization/personnel,' 'budget,' and 'projects,' achieving a score of 78.5, which greatly exceeds the average score of 53.1 among 108 local governments in the population group of 50,000 to 300,000 (Group B), securing first place.

Among the 229 local governments nationwide, Naju ranked 6th overall, following Paju City and Uijeongbu City in Gyeonggi-do, which took first and second place respectively.

According to the 'Cause of Death Statistics for Last Year' released by Statistics Korea, the city's suicide rate per 100,000 people decreased by 16.7%, from 41.4% in 2018 to 24.7% last year.

To spread respect for life and reduce the suicide rate, the city has been promoting suicide prevention education, training life guardians (gatekeepers), and campaigns to improve the sales practices of briquette charcoal, achieving high scores in suicide prevention activity evaluations over the past three years.

This year, the city installed eight suicide prevention logo projectors in high-risk suicide areas within the jurisdiction and designated ten villages in Donggang-myeon as mental health happiness villages, implementing depression prevention programs and various health promotion projects (such as dementia prevention, oral health, and exercise), receiving strong support from the elderly population.

Mayor Kang In-gyu said, "Taking the selection as a nationwide excellent institution for suicide prevention as an opportunity, we will further activate life respect expansion and suicide prevention projects through systematic analysis of local suicide data."

Meanwhile, the city provides free counseling for citizens' psychological recovery from anxiety, stress, and depression.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.