More people die from suicide in Northland every year than from the road toll, but the killer issue receives only a fraction of the funding as road safety, say organisers of a suicide prevention march through Whangarei.
Yesterday about 100 people marched through Whangarei to mark World Suicide Day and to raise awareness of New Zealand's - and Northland's - statistics.
It was organised by Community Action on Suicide Prevention, Education and Research (Casper) and comes after Chief Coroner Judge Neil MacLean released suicide statistics for the year ending June 30, 2012, which show 26 suicides in Northland.
It's the highest total for at least five years, with 22 in the 2010/11 year, 20 in 2009/10, 19 in 2008/09 and 22 in 2007/08. Nationally, the number of suicides was 547, a drop of 11 from the previous year.
Whangarei mum Deb Williams, who co-founded Casper after her daughter Cloudy committed suicide, said the "epidemic" was graphically illustrated at the Old Library by 547 pairs of empty shoes, to highlight the depth of the problem in New Zealand.