The Global Network for Tobacco Free Healthcare Services (GNTH) announced the “2023 International Golden Awards for Tobacco-Free Hospitals” in September of this year (2023), and 12 hospitals worldwide were awarded. The Health Promotion Administration (HPA) of the MOHW recommended eight hospitals to participate in the gold award competition, with all eight nominated hospitals honored with the international gold award. The awarded hospitals are as follows: Cathay General Hospital in Xizhi, New Taipei City Hospital, Far Eastern Memorial Hospital, Taichung Veterans General Hospital, Tung’s Taichung MetroHarbor Hospital, St. Joseph’s Hospital, Jiali Chi-Mei Hospital, and Kaohsiung Municipal United Hospital.
The GNTH was established in 1999 and has since garnered enthusiastic participation from over 1,400 member institutions (medical facilities) spanning 14 countries. Taiwan applied for membership in 2011, establishing the first network in the Asia-Pacific region. Presently, Taiwan proudly holds 217 hospitals as members, with 40 hospitals having previously received the prestigious international gold award.

Distinctive Smoking Cessation Services with Remarkable Achievements
The HPA encourages hospitals each year to conduct self-assessments based on GNTH’s 8 Global Standards (Governance and Commitment, Communication, Education and Training, Identification/Diagnosis and Tobacco Cessation Support, Tobacco-Free Environment, Healthy Workplace, Community Engagement, Monitoring and Evaluation), and also actively engaging in the international gold award certification. The recognized features and highlights of the eight awarded hospitals this year (2023) are as follows:
1.Cathay General Hospital: Utilizing matrix management to drive tobacco-free policies, the hospital focuses on six major service groups—outpatient, inpatient, employees, campuses, communities, and workplaces. They provide resources for smoking cessation and health promotion, fostering tobacco-free health awareness and accumulating overall community health capital.
2.New Taipei City Hospital: Actively promotes smoking cessation services for both outpatient and inpatient cases. Through employee engagement and incentive measures, they achieve proactive referrals, enhancing the objectives of smoking cessation services.
3.Far Eastern Memorial Hospital: Utilizes a smart information system for smoking identification and automatic referrals across teams. The hospital extends a smoke-free culture from the hospital to schools and communities, creating a sustainable tobacco-free environment for all ages.
4.Taichung Veterans General Hospital: Implements the Ottawa Model for Smoking Cessation (OMSC), integrating it with five major departments dealing with chronic diseases to promote on-site smoking cessation services. They emphasize personalized approaches to smoking cessation treatment, fostering a health-friendly medical environment.
5.Tung’s Taichung MetroHarbor Hospital: Integrates medical, nursing, and administrative resources, ensures a tobacco-free building environment, promotes community and school education, and provides localized smoking cessation services.
6.St. Joseph’s Hospital: Fully supports a hospital-wide tobacco-free policy, actively promotes employee smoking prevention education and cessation incentives, fostering a tobacco-free environment and enhancing public health initiatives.
7.Jiali Chi-Mei Hospital: Combines lung cancer screenings and offers on-site smoking cessation for smokers identified during screenings, reducing the harm of smoking on the lungs.
8.Kaohsiung Municipal United Hospital: Provides individualized and family-oriented smoking cessation services for pregnant women and cohabitating family members. The hospital partners with smoke-free taxi fleets for smoke-free medical travel, incorporating smart technology for advocacy and offering communication channels (quit-smoking hotline) for those seeking to quit smoking.

International Exchange of Tobacco-Free Hospitals Enhances Taiwan’s Global Visibility
In September of this year (2023), the GNTH hosted the “Global Network (Online) Seminar and Gold Award Forum,” where eight recognized hospitals from Taiwan were invited to attend online to receive awards and share their experiences in promoting tobacco-free hospitals. Simultaneously, Taiwan’s network director (Dr. Lin Chi-Wei from the Departments of Family Medicine of E-Da Hospital) was invited to represent Taiwan at the Gold Award Forum. Apart from encouraging awarded hospitals in Taiwan to engage with network members from other countries to exchange achievements in our smoke-free hospitals, the forum also facilitated the sharing of Taiwan's efforts and accomplishments in tobacco control policies.