Gu Xiulian, vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress (NPC) and chairperson of the All-China Women's Federation, said this morning that both the Chinese government and ordinary people consider the issue of females suicide to be extremely important and governments have instituted a series of measures.

Gu made these remarks at a press conference arranged by the Information Office of the State Council.

She said that most of the females who committed suicide in China were in the rural areas of the country. 

The reasons for their taking their own life are complicated.

Survey showed that the main reasons for female suicides were: some women suffer from depression or other mental illnesses, conflicts between family members, economic hardship or serious physical illnesses.

This is an issue regarded as serious by both government and ordinary people and a series of measures have been instituted.

The main measures are: First and foremost, health departments have mobilized relevant units to strengthen education of public health and mental health.

In practical terms, this means expanding service networks in rural areas and training front-line staff in the area of health knowledge and its wider applicability.

It also means to activity develop anti-poverty plans, institute micro lending programs to help the livelihood of women so their lives can improve.

Furthermore, village committees, women groups will pay attention to help women in difficulty to solve practical problems and help these women to conquer their pessimistic and negative reactions to problems and strengthen their ability to handle psychological pressures and to prevent suicides.

(Chinanews.cn August 27, 2005)