Health ministry unveils support plans for suicide-risk households

The health ministry said Tuesday it will step up identification and give priority services to households at high risk of suicide linked to social isolation and family caregiving burdens.

Rising one-person households and ageing add to isolation and family care burdens. People providing care alone over long periods can face illness or depression, leaving them exposed to suicide risk. "Anyone can face a crisis in life, but being connected to neighbours and society offers ways to get back on one's feet," Health Minister Jeong Eun-kyeong said.

From 2027, the ministry will use warning information, including self-harm or suicide attempts, people managed as suicide high-risk cases and emergency-centre visits for self-harm or suicide, to screen people at risk and investigate different forms of isolation. It plans to examine about 20,000 people. Reports mentioning suicide through the welfare-crisis alert app will receive emergency counselling within 24 hours.

The ministry will begin finding high-risk care households in the second half of 2026, focusing on older people caring for older people and families that do not use public care services. It will assess family caregiving conditions and mental health at the start of long-term care or disability registration and connect high-risk groups to mental health welfare centres. From 2027, families of people with developmental disabilities will receive priority access to respite support.

Family caregivers who are young people will be linked to daily care services and long-term-care facility benefits from March 2026. From 2027, people assessed as being at high risk of suicide because of caregiving pressures can receive up to 72 hours of emergency care, such as three hours a day for 24 days. High-risk groups will also receive expedited emergency welfare living-cost support without an on-site verification and priority links to integrated care through case management.

The measures are part of nine suicide-prevention plans by field that the government plans to announce sequentially through September.