Let's Quit Smoking in the New Year with Smoking Cessation Success Support Funds

Nowon-gu Selected as an Excellent Institution in Smoking Cessation Support Services... As Part of the Smoking Cessation Clinic Project, 607 Residents Received Smoking Cessation Success Grants This Year... Continuous Support for Smoking Cessation Success Through Various Outreach Smoking Cessation Services to Enhance Residents' Convenience

Nowon-gu, Seoul (District Mayor Oh Seung-rok) announced that it is conducting a systematic smoking cessation program, including a specialized project for smoking cessation success incentives, to support the healthy lives of its residents.

To create a "Smoke-Free City Nowon," the district established a smoking cessation team within the public health center in 2014. In the same year, it enacted an ordinance to establish a special account for creating a smoke-free environment, providing a legal basis for the project, and became the first in the nation to offer incentives (rewards) to those who successfully quit smoking.

The "Nowon-gu Smoking Cessation Success Incentive" is a representative smoking cessation support project operated as part of the smoking cessation clinic program.

If residents maintain their registration in Nowon-gu from the date of registration at the smoking cessation clinic until successful cessation, they receive up to 600,000 KRW in cash incentives over three years. A distinctive feature is that the fund is sourced from fines imposed for smoking in non-smoking areas. In 2023, 607 people received the smoking cessation success incentive, totaling approximately 110 million KRW.

Noteworthy is the district’s systematic management approach. Participants first undergo one-on-one counseling with professional counselors to specifically understand their smoking patterns and habits, followed by advice on tailored alternative methods such as exercises to suppress smoking urges. The initial consultation lasts over 40 minutes, including a nicotine dependence test, and from the second session onward, face-to-face or telephone counseling helps participants maintain their smoking cessation.

Additionally, the district continuously conducts nicotine hair tests to track and manage participants’ smoking cessation status and appropriately adjusts management plans. Especially for participants who have a strong will to quit but struggle with impulse control, strategic management is combined by providing smoking cessation aids (nicotine patches, gum, candy), resulting in high participant satisfaction and success rates.

A district official stated, “Only those who truly succeed in quitting smoking through meticulous nicotine testing receive the incentive, which increases participants’ sense of achievement and success rates. We continuously receive benchmarking inquiries from other local governments,” adding, “We are confident that we can discover meaningful smoking cessation projects in the future by utilizing the data and know-how accumulated during the operation.”

Centered on the smoking cessation clinic, the district is promoting various projects to establish a smoke-free culture locally, such as the "Visiting Mobile Smoking Cessation Clinic," "Youth Smoking Zero Program," and "Smoking Cessation Campaign." These projects are designed to improve accessibility for those who find it difficult to visit during weekday clinic hours by providing counseling and registration support at local and school festival sites.

Meanwhile, this year, 2,450 people have registered and been managed through the Nowon-gu smoking cessation clinic, with 8,940 consultations and clinic uses. On the 6th, in recognition of these achievements, the district won the Excellence Award in the smoking cessation support service category at the "2023 Seoul City Smoking Cessation Project Performance Competition."

Oh Seung-rok, Mayor of Nowon-gu, said, “Quitting smoking is not easy with just personal willpower, so consistent management is necessary,” and added, “We will actively support many residents’ smoking cessation success through various smoking cessation support projects, including the smoking cessation success incentive.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.