Taiwan Today
Date: November 3, 2016
Taiwan is third in the Asia-Pacific for implementing effective mental health policies and providing
Bali Psychiatric Center in New Taipei City is one of Taiwan’s most progressive institutions for treating those with mental illness. (Courtesy of Ministry of Health and Welfare)
services aimed at assisting patients integrate successfully into society, according to a recently released regional mental health integration index produced by the Economist Intelligence Unit.
The country’s overall score of 80.1 placed it behind New Zealand at 94.7 and Australia at 92.2, but ahead of Singapore, 76.4; South Korea, 75.9; and Japan, 67.4.
Dr. Chang Shu-sen, an assistant professor in the College of Public Health at National Taiwan University in Taipei City, said in the report that “Taiwan’s democratic transition of 30 years ago had widespread indirect impacts on the improvement of community care and has enhanced awareness of human rights, including for those with mental illness.”
Released Oct. 10 to coincide with World Mental Health Day, the inaugural edition of the index compares the level of effort in 15 countries on the basis of 18 indicators grouped into the categories of access to treatment, environment, governance and opportunity. It employs similar methodology used by the EIU in its 2014 report for Europe. [FULL STORY]
