Taipei, Nov. 23 (CNA) A nationwide suicide prevention campaign will begin in December, with Vice President Annette Lu serving as "life spokeswoman."
From Dec. 1, a series of symposiums on how to cope with suffering in order to effectively curb the rising suicide rate will be held in Taipei, Taichung, Kaohsiung and Hualien, Lu said Sunday.
According to statistics released by the World Health Organization, around one million people committed suicide in 2000, making suicide the 13th-most common cause of death globally, Lu said.
Due to various economic and social factors, the suicide rate in Taiwan has risen markedly over the past two years, Lu noted, adding that finding ways to prevent suicide has become a more urgent issue than the prevention of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS).
Lu said that in 2002 alone, the number of suicide fatalities in Taiwan reached 2,053, making suicide ninth on Taiwan's list of most common causes of death, while 3,170 people committed suicide in the first half of this year, she went on.
The vice president also disclosed that the Executive Yuan is considering establishing a national suicide prevention center in order to curb the growing suicide rate.