Nam-gu, Gwangju Metropolitan City, will conduct the first-ever full survey to identify high-risk groups for solitary death as the government expands its solitary death prevention and management project nationwide starting this year.
This is the first time a full survey is being conducted based on the government's basic plan for solitary death prevention. Until now, Nam-gu has independently identified residents at risk of solitary death and cared for them through various support projects.
According to Nam-gu on the 13th, this survey is being conducted to strengthen the responsibility of the state and local governments regarding solitary death and to establish integrated and systematic measures targeting single-person households.
As of April this year, there are 37,419 single-person households in Nam-gu out of a total of 95,406 households, accounting for 39% of all households.
In particular, the proportion of single-person households is increasing every year due to social structural changes such as the weakening of caregiving functions among family members.
The target of this full survey is 15,124 single-person households aged 40 to 80 years old within the district who realistically feel loneliness or solitude and are at higher risk of solitary death.
The reason for focusing on this age group is that data on solitary deaths by age group in the Gwangju area show that lonely deaths are concentrated among single-person household residents aged 40 to 80, and many households are exposed to crisis situations.
From this month until the end of July, Nam-gu will conduct a social isolation survey using a solitary death risk assessment tool consisting of 3 categories and 12 questions.
It is a principle that welfare community leaders, members of the local community security council, and welfare officers in each neighborhood will visit each household to conduct the survey, with telephone surveys conducted as needed.
During the survey, if the subjects request services such as welfare checks, Nam-gu plans to register them in the Solitary Death Risk Group Happiness Connection System for special management and will also provide linked care services for follow-up management.
Meanwhile, to prevent solitary death, Nam-gu has been providing mobile safety care services to 1,296 single-person household residents independently and is conducting activities to identify at-risk households and connect services through 547 honorary social welfare officers active in each neighborhood.
Additionally, the solitary death prevention project is being carried out through the ‘Euddeumhyo Nam-gu Anshim Donghaeng App Service’ using the Internet of Things, and the ‘3-24H system,’ which completes welfare checks within 3 hours and emergency measures within 24 hours, is in operation to care for single-person household residents with weak family support systems.
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