Taiwan’s efforts in promoting tobacco-free hospitals have achieved another milestone. The Global Network for Tobacco Free Healthcare Services (GNTH) announced the list of recipients of the 2025 Gold-Certified Tobacco-Free Hospitals in June 2025. All seven hospitals recommended this year by the Health Promotion Administration (HPA), Ministry of Health and Welfare (MOHW) successfully achieved Gold Certification and were invited to share their experience in advancing tobacco-free healthcare. This achievement highlights Taiwan’s strong performance in tobacco control and further enhances its international visibility and influence in global tobacco harm prevention.

Taiwan Network Achieves 45 Gold Certifications in Just 14 Years
Established in 1999, GNTH now includes more than 1,400 healthcare institutions across 14 countries. Taiwan joined GNTH in 2011 and established the first GNTH network in the Asia-Pacific region. As of this year, 218 Taiwanese hospitals have joined the network, with 45 hospitals having achieved Gold Certification to date.
The seven hospitals awarded in 2025 are: Changhua Christian Hospital; MacKay Memorial Hospital, Tamsui Branch; National Taiwan University Hospital Hsin-Chu Branch; Taoyuan General Hospital, MOHW; Taipei Medical University Hospital; Taipei Veterans General Hospital, Yuanshan Branch; and E-DA Hospital.

Distinctive Strengths Across Seven Gold-Certified Hospitals
Each year, the HPA encourages hospitals to seek Gold Certification in accordance with GNTH’s 8 Global Standards, which include: leadership and commitment, communication, education and training, identification and treatment of tobacco dependence, a tobacco-free environment, a healthy workplace, community engagement, and monitoring and evaluation. The seven hospitals achieving Gold Certification in 2025 demonstrated diverse and innovative approaches in creating tobacco-free environments and delivering smoking cessation services.
Changhua Christian Hospital featured leadership involvement, with its superintendent personally recording tobacco and betel nut prevention broadcasts, while expanding outreach through podcasts, short medical videos, and social media platforms such as LINE and Facebook. The hospital also established a cross-departmental smoking cessation case management system to enhance teamwork and resource efficiency. MacKay Memorial Hospital, Tamsui Branch regularly hosts a “MacKay Smoking Cessation Week” and conducts community-based tobacco harm prevention activities. The hospital strengthened its smoking cessation case management system, installed no-smoking alert bells at smoking hotspots to ensure a smoke-free environment. Furthermore, the hospital introduced incentive programs and ward referral competitions to encourage staff participation. National Taiwan University Hospital Hsin-Chu Branch actively integrates smoking cessation services into both outpatient and inpatient care, emphasizes shared decision-making between physicians and patients, and extends outreach to schools and communities to raise awareness of emerging tobacco products.

As a gateway hospital serving international travelers, Taoyuan General Hospital, MOHW combines chronic disease case management expertise with targeted support for vulnerable populations, reflecting the healthcare system’s commitment to health equity. Taipei Medical University Hospital adopted a “four-all” service model—covering the entire care process, all departments, the whole hospital, and the surrounding community—supported by real-time reporting and LINE group coordination. The hospital achieved a 100% smoking cessation intervention rate among patients with acute coronary syndrome. Taipei Veterans General Hospital Yuanshan Branch implemented the “QUIT SMART” strategy, integrating systematic, cross-team collaboration and smart tracking to build a tobacco-free community and a healthy workplace. E-DA Hospital enhanced tobacco-free enforcement through digitized smoking cessation workflows and case management systems, and developed a patented smoke-detection device to strengthen indoor tobacco control measures.

International Exchange of Tobacco-Free Hospitals Enhances Taiwan’s Global Visibility
GNTH held the Global Network Conference and Gold Forum on June 26, 2025. The forum adopted a World Café format to facilitate experience sharing among Gold-Certified hospitals worldwide. Taiwan was represented by Dr. Lin Chi-Wei, GNTH Vice Chair and Board Member. The seven Gold-Certified hospitals from Taiwan were also invited to attend the certification ceremony and share their practical experience in promoting tobacco-free hospitals, demonstrating Taiwan’s concrete achievements and setting a new benchmark for tobacco-free healthcare.

Extended Reading:
[List of 218 GNTH Member Hospitals in Taiwan]
https://www.hpa.gov.tw/Pages/Detail.aspx?nodeid=589&pid=16137
[Tobacco-Free Hospitals]
https://www.hpa.gov.tw/Pages/List.aspx?nodeid=182