Osan-si Solitary Death Prevention Project Receives Minister of Health and Welfare Award

Public-Private Partnership Project to Escape Isolation 'With Smile' Promotion

Osan City in Gyeonggi Province announced on the 1st that it received the Minister of Health and Welfare Award at the 'Social Isolation and Solitary Death Prevention Forum' held on the 30th of last month at the Auditorium of the Fire Insurance Association in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul.

At the event, the city explained that Osan's social isolation and solitary death prevention project, 'With Smile,' was selected as an excellent case this year and received an award.

Lee Gwon-jae, Mayor of Osan (left), is taking a commemorative photo after receiving the Excellence Award at the "Social Isolation and Solitary Death Prevention Forum" held on the 30th.
[Photo by Osan City]

Since 2021, the city has been operating 'With Smile,' a public-private cooperation project aimed at escaping isolation by restoring neighbor networks for isolated households.

The 'With Smile Solitary Death ZERO Alliance' is a public-private cooperative network of institutions dedicated to restoring neighbor networks for socially isolated households. This alliance includes nine social welfare-related organizations such as Osan City, Osan Center for Independent Living of Persons with Severe Disabilities, Osan Comprehensive Social Welfare Center, Osan Southern Comprehensive Social Welfare Center, Osan Segyo Comprehensive Social Welfare Center, Osan Disabled Persons Comprehensive Welfare Center, Osan Mental Health Welfare Center, Neulpureum, and Gwoldong Gyeonggi Happy Village Management Office. The alliance carries out various activities including region-tailored public-private cooperation surveys on isolation status, establishing a collaborative system to discover welfare blind spots, and analyzing excellent cases related to social network formation programs for isolation prevention.

Lee Kwon-jae, Mayor of Osan City, said, "We will do our best to solve social isolation issues centered on the local community through a human safety net management system and to activate service linkage for households in crisis."