<strong>China: Taiwan DOH Praises Smoking Cessation Program Results</strong>

Source from:  Taiwan Today (tw)  05/07/2013

Taiwan's second-generation smoking cessation program has delivered fruitful results since its launch in March last year, according to the ROC Department of Health May 2.

"This initiative has delivered benefits for society in the form of fewer people smoking, greater savings for participants and the government, and increased national productivity," said Chiu Shu-ti, director-general of the DOH Bureau of Health Promotion.

Chiu said the program treated nearly 60,000 smokers in 2012, up 37.4 percent year on year, with an additional 10,000 taking part as of March. A total of 18,372 stopped smoking, up 60.6 percent from the previous year, and 31.1 percent of these did not smoke within the next six months, compared to 26.6 percent in 2011.

The initiative boasts a user satisfaction rate of 80 percent, the highest since similar programs were introduced by the DOH beginning 2002.

Majority funded by the National Health Insurance scheme, the initiative requires participants pay 20 percent of their medication costs with a cap of NT$200 (US$6.78) per script. It also extends to community pharmacies and 2,200 local clinics, covering 97.6 percent of all cities and towns islandwide.

Smokers who are hospitalized for related diseases are also covered under the program, with the NHI subsidizing smoking cessation treatment during their stays. A total of 20 percent of regional and national hospitals now offer treatment to assist admitted patients quit smoking, as opposed to none before the initiative was launched.

The program helps the patient save an average of NT$5,481 in medical expenses during the six months before and after they quit smoking, Chu said, adding that every successful case saves the governmnet NT$420,000 over the next 11 to 15 years. Enditem