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E-mail China Daily, May 23, 2012
Lack of funding
Despite making a great contribution to society, many organizations face problems. Zhao Guangjun, the founder of the Guangzhou Life Rescue hotline, which has more than 1,500 volunteers, fully understands the difficulties after 15 years in the field: a shortage of funds, the misgivings of friends and family, public skepticism about the role they play the list goes on.
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Firefighters rescue a woman who attempted to jump from a 12th-floor window in Dongguan, Guangdong province on April 18. The woman was suffering from family problems. [Photo / for China Daily ] |
![Firefighters rescue a woman who attempted to jump from a 12th-floor window in Dongguan, Guangdong province on April 18. The woman was suffering from family problems. [Photo / for China Daily ]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20120523/0019b93bd68d1126ba8a03.jpg "Firefighters rescue a woman who attempted to jump from a 12th-floor window in Dongguan, Guangdong province on April 18. The woman was suffering from family problems. [Photo / for China Daily ]")
The lack of funding is the biggest problem facing most of the organizations, so much so that the majority established in the 1990s have now closed. Retiree Zhou Zhou opened a hotline in 2006 and helped more than 200 people. However, the size of the phone bill meant he was forced to cancel the hotline in 2008.
"A lack of professional talent is another bottleneck. Suicide prevention work makes high demands on those involved, testing their enthusiasm, psychological know how and communication skills. One wrong word or the wrong approach from a volunteer may further upset callers and the consequences are too dreadful to contemplate," he said.
New proposals
"Compared with many countries, suicide prevention work in China is still in its infancy. The central government has attached greater importance to tackling suicide than previously, but capital and research investment are still very limited. The lack of funds means that outstanding talent is hard to recruit and retain," explained Li Xianyun.
At China's annual legislative assemblies, known as the two sessions, Lan Minbo, a professor of chemistry at East China University of Science and Technology in Shanghai, suggested that the government should consolidate the scattered resources into one body and make better use of volunteers. Moreover, medical schools and universities should establish courses to train more professionals.
Meanwhile, Li suggested a national suicide prevention strategy should be established and urged that officials be made responsible for the promotion of suicide prevention. "It's crucial that we develop a network of government-supported suicide research and prevention centers and a broad-based national prevention organization that systematically monitors the pattern of successful and attempted suicides around the country," she said.
Wu Fangzhou agreed, but thought it would be better if suicide prevention activities were to be backed up by new laws. "China's current suicide prevention program still has many difficulties that need to be solved through the rule-making process, such as establishing a nationwide system to report deaths and preventing easy access to lethal agents, such as pesticides," he said.
During their many years of experience and analysis of suicide cases, Wu and his volunteers worked out a draft of suicide prevention law. "Only the law can clearly specify society's obligations and the responsibility to persuade people not to take their own lives when things are tough," he said.
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