Taiwan Quick Take

■ SOCIETY
Divorce rate still climbing
The country's divorce rate continued to climb last year, with an average of 177 couples filing for divorce every day, the Ministry of the Interior said yesterday, Last year, a total of 64,540 couples filed for divorce, averaging 177 divorces per day, up from 62,571 couples that filed for divorce (171 divorces per day) in 2005, the ministry said in a report. Taiwan's divorce rate was 2.83 per 1,000 people last year and 2.75 per 1,000 of the population in 2005. In the past 10 years, Taiwan's divorce rate has doubled. In 1996, 35,875 couples filed for divorce, an average of 75 divorces per day, with a divorce rate of 1.67 per 1,000 people. Academics have attributed the rising divorce rate to the breakdown of the nuclear family structure and young people's putting personal happiness ahead of their responsibility family.

■ HEALTH
Self-examination promoted
The Formosa Cancer Foundation called on women yesterday to get into the habit of regularly performing breast self-examinations to check for possible signs of breast cancer. While breast cancer has the highest incidence and mortality rates of any cancer among the nation's women, the results of a recent survey of 4,000 women conducted by the foundation showed that only 37 percent of respondents were aware that women should start performing regular self-examinations after reaching the age of 18. Meanwhile, the survey showed that there are six common myths about breast cancer among women in Taiwan, with 42 percent to 55 percent of the respondents believing that breast cancer patients cannot breast feed, that most breast cancer cases are due to hereditary factors, that breast cancer is always terminal, that women with the cancer cannot have children, that sufferers must have their breasts removed completely and that they cannot have sexual intercourse.

■ SOCIETY
UK office offers funding
Non-profit organizations will be able to bid for funding support from the British Trade and Cultural Office (BTCO) for Taiwan-based projects under the theme of climate change and human rights protection. Priority will be given to projects that take a strategic approach to both of these areas and which are likely to make a sustained difference, according to a statement released by the office. Projects must be completed by March next year and preference will be given to projects that are scheduled for completion by December this year, BTCO said. Funding of up to NT$300,000 per project is available. The deadline for applications is May 30.

■ HEALTH
Shigellosis cases reported
A total of 26 cases of shigellosis, also known as bacillary dysentery in its most severe manifestation, have been reported in Taiwan so far this year, the Department of Health (DOH) said. Of these, 13 originated in Southeast Asia, said Chou Chih-hao (周志浩), deputy director of the DOH Center for Disease Control. Chou reminded people planning to visit the region to pay attention to hygiene and to avoid raw food. He added that the disease center had sent notices to the Tourism Bureau under the Ministry of Transportation and Communications, travel agencies and tour guide groups informing them to take environmental sanitation into account when drawing up tour plans and to educate tourists about hygiene. The report said that four shigellosis cases detected in April and early this month all originated in Bali.