Nowon-gu Smoking Cessation Success Support Fund: 706 Recipients and 128 Million KRW Distributed Last Year

As part of Nowon-gu's Smoking Cessation Clinic Project, Smoking Cessation Success Grants Provided... 706 Recipients and 128 Million KRW Distributed Last Year... Continuous Support for Smoking Cessation Success through Outreach Smoking Cessation Services

Nowon-gu, Seoul (District Mayor Oh Seung-rok) announced that it is conducting various smoking cessation projects, including providing smoking cessation success support funds, to support the healthy lives of its residents.

The district established the legal basis for the project by enacting the ordinance to create a special account for smoking cessation environment in 2014, aiming to provide professional smoking cessation support services, and has been the first in the nation to pay rewards to those who successfully quit smoking.

When a person succeeds in quitting smoking, they receive up to 600,000 KRW in cash over three years, funded by fines collected from smoking violations in non-smoking areas, which is a distinctive feature.

According to the National Health Insurance Service, the probability of smokers quitting successfully through personal effort is less than 4%. However, the number of new registrants at smoking cessation clinics more than doubled in the 17 months after the district began providing the smoking cessation success support funds compared to the 17 months before. Furthermore, as of 2021, among 1,140 new registrants, 28.2% succeeded in quitting for 12 months, 20.4% for 24 months, and 17.3% for 36 months.

Besides the smoking cessation success support funds, a notable aspect of the smoking cessation support project is its systematic management plan. Participants receive one-on-one counseling with professional counselors to specifically understand their smoking patterns and habits, followed by advice on customized alternative methods such as exercises to suppress smoking urges.

The initial consultation lasts more than 40 minutes, including a nicotine dependence test, and from the second session onward, face-to-face or telephone counseling is provided to help participants maintain their smoking cessation.

Additionally, continuous nicotine hair tests are conducted to track and manage participants' smoking cessation status, adjusting management plans appropriately. Strategic management is combined, such as providing smoking cessation aids (nicotine patches, gum, candy) to participants who have a strong will to quit but struggle with impulse control, resulting in high satisfaction and success rates among participants.

A district official stated, “Only those who truly succeed in quitting smoking through thorough nicotine testing can receive the support funds, which increases participants’ sense of achievement and success rates, leading to continuous benchmarking inquiries from other local governments,” and expressed confidence by saying, “We will continue to operate meaningful smoking cessation projects using the data and know-how accumulated during the operation.”

In addition, the district is promoting various projects such as the 'Visiting Mobile Smoking Cessation Clinic,' 'Youth Smoking Zero Program,' and 'Smoking Cessation Campaign.' These are designed to improve accessibility for those who find it difficult to visit on weekdays by providing counseling and registration support at workplaces and local festivals.

Meanwhile, last year, 2,638 people registered and were managed at the Nowon-gu smoking cessation clinic, with 8,344 uses and consultations. The amount paid in success support funds reached 128 million KRW.

Based on these achievements, Nowon-gu won the 'Grand Prize' (1st nationwide) in the Smoking Cessation Environment Creation category at the 2024 Ministry of Health and Welfare Smoking Cessation Project Performance Competition.

Oh Seung-rok, Mayor of Nowon-gu, said, “Quitting smoking is not easy with just personal willpower, so continuous 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 support funds.”

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