Safe Community Neihu

Country: China (Province of Taiwan)
Number of inhabitants: 261,201
Programme started year: July 2002
International Safe Communities Network Membership: Designation year: 2005
Info address on www: http://home.kimo.com.tw/neihu_safe/index.htm


The programme covers the following safety promotion activities:

For the age group:

At the following environments:

Home:

Home Safety Promotion
Neihu, with its mountains, rivers and lakes, gives the residents a beautiful natural environment, but limited apace for dwelling. Crowded dwelling increases incidences such as home fires, burglaries and home injuries. Young children and elders who are physically weaker and spend most of the time at home are most vulnerable people to home injuries; whereas other family members, mainly housewives, can help them to be safer if these members have enough knowledge, positive attitudes and right actions toward home safety. Therefore, Home Safety Promotion Program was designed to empower them with home safety concept as well as practice. For senior residents living alone, home safety program was collaborated with various social welfare programs to assist the elderly to have safer daily life.

Traffic:
Road Safety Promotion
Traffic accident has always been the leading cause of injuries in Neihu. According to the surveillance data, motor vehicle accidents account for about 85% of traffic injuries each year, whereas bicycle and pedestrian injuries were relatively less. However, more and more residents, adults and children, ride bicycles for going to work or to school, or for recreation during week ends. Beautiful parks in Neihu attract a lot of people, especially elderly and small children, to go there for exercise at dawn or at dusk. When they cross the road in the dim lights, the motorists can hardly see them and might just hit them.
The construction of MRT Neihu line started in 2003 and is expected to be completed in 2008. Among 12 districts of Taipei, Neihu is the last one to build MRT. From experience elsewhere, we have learned that the construction of MRT could make an incredible chaos to the surrounding area with increasing traffic jams as well as traffic injuries. In other words, the long term MRT construction might make the traffic accidents situation even worse. On the other hand, people might change their ways of transportation once the MRT system is completed and begins to operate. A survey conducted by the transport safety promotion group of NSHPA suggested that bicycling is going to be a popular way for short distance transportation, e.g. bicycling between home and MRT station. As a matter of fact, to prevent Neihu from turning into so called “Traffic Dark Ages”, and to prepare the residents to cope with the future transportation situation, NSHPA and partners cranked up a series of projects to promote transport safety for now and the future.

School:
School Safety promotion
Children spent most of daytime at school. Their safety at school is not only schools’ responsibility but also parents’ concerns. However, in Neihu, injury is still the most frequently seen health problem of children in school. In addition, the MRT construction around the school might create some potential dangers for children. Several kidnap cases during the past two years in nearby counties had suggested the risk of children on the way between school and home. Thus, NSHPA allies Bureau of Education of Taipei City, school administrators and parents’ organizations in Neihu designed several projects for promoting school safety.

Sports and Leisure:
Sports and Recreation Safety Promotion
Neihu, with its beautiful natural environment and abundant sport facilities, is a nice place for outdoor as well as indoor recreation activities. People, not only the residents, but also those who work here or live in neighbor districts, like to be here for hiking, swimming, bicycling, or just watching kids play in the park during the weekend. There are various recreation clubs holding all kinds of activities regularly, e.g. hiking and climbing, swimming, bicycling, ball games, roller skating, karate, yoga, tai chi chuan, folk dancing, etc.. Neihu District Games attract more than 3000 contestants every year. Injuries might be occurred in any of theses activities if there is no sufficient prevention. Some folk activities held at traditional festivals once a year (e.g. casemate attacking at feast of lanterns), are also involve risks for various kinds of injuries. Thus, projects to promote sports and recreation safety are developed.

Others:
Shopping Place Safety Promotion
Shopping at wholesale warehouse or super mart has become a new consumption style of urban life in Taipei City. Large-scale wholesale companies, e.g. Costco, RT-MART, B&Q etc., have set up their chain stores successively in the south section of Neihu Technology Park. Up to now, there are 5 large-scale wholesale warehouses in the area. The warehouse building usually covers an extensive space and can hold a large amount of customers. Usually, disaster prevention, e.g. fire and earthquake, is the major concern of the safety department of the company. However, customers and employees may also encounter accidental injuries which had drawn little attention of the companies. An investigation conducted by Dr. Li during Jan 2002 and Dec 2003, found that 16 injured cases from the warehouses requiring emergency medical treatment or hospitalization. They are 6 males and 10 females aged 26-58, including both customers and employees. On the other hand, shopping place is a good place to disseminate safety concept. Therefore, Shopping Place Safety Promotion Program is designed to promote safety awareness and to reduce accidental injuries in large shopping settings.

Violence prevention:

Intentional Injury Prevention
Comparing to other districts of Taipei, Neihu has relatively high suicide rate. Adolescent suicide had drawn special attention since a significant increase in suicide rate is detected amongst youth over the past three years. Jumping is the most prevalent method adopted by youth, which accounts for about two third of the total means. Although there is a nationwide “Teacher Chang” hotline service, it is not sufficient for suicide prevention. Research studies indicate that the common leading cause of suicide is mostly due to the lack of sufficient and immediate help services provided for those in need. On the other hand, domestic violence is also a serious problem in Neihu. Women and young children are major victims of domestic violence. According to Cathay General Hospital records, the number of suspected domestic violence cases seen in Neihu Division is 4 times of what seen in the main hospital in Taipei. Therefore, the intentional injury prevention group of NSHPA focused their work on suicide and domestic violence prevention.

Programs aiming at ”High risk-groups”: Yes

Surveillance of injuries:
School of Public Health, National Defense Medical Centre
Numbers per year:
Population base: 261,201
Started year: 2002

Publications:
Download the application report:
Neihu Application to Become a Member of the Safe Community Network

Produced information material, pamphlets: Yes

Staff
Number: 4
Professions: 2 full-time, 2 part-time
Permanent:
Temporary:
Organization: Neihu Safety and Health promotion Association
Specific inter-sectoral leadership group: Neihu District Office
General public health/health promotion group: Neihu District Health Center, Tri-service General Hospital, National Defense Medical Center

Left to right:
David F. L. Ong, President of Neihu Safety and Health Promotion Association,
Wu, Kun-Hung, Director of Neihu District Office, Taipei City

International commitments:
Study visits:

Participation in Safe Community conferences:
1. 12th International Conference on Safe Communities, Hong Kong, March 2003
2. 1st International Conference on Safe School, Czech Republic, May 2004
3. 7th World Conference on Injury Prevention and Safety Promotion, Austria, June 2004

Hosting Safe Community Conferences:
Assisting 3rd Asian Regional Conference on Safe Communities

For further information contact:
Mr. Frank Wu
School of Public Health, National Defense Medical Centre
R 4325, No. 161, Minchuan E. Rd., Sec. 6,
Taipei 114
China (Province of Taiwan)
Phone: +886 2 8791 0456
Fax: +886 2 8791 0456
E-mail: nurs2030@ndmctsgh.edu.tw
Info address on www: www.ndmctsgh.edu.tw/