Songpa-gu Wins Minister of Health and Welfare Award for Smoking Cessation Initiatives for Second Consecutive Year

Songpa-gu in Seoul has received the Minister of Health and Welfare Award for the second consecutive year, highlighting the achievements of its youth-targeted smoking cessation program. On June 18, Songpa-gu announced that it had won the Institutional Excellence Award at the "2025 Community Smoking Cessation Project Best Practices Selection Evaluation," organized by the Ministry of Health and Welfare.

This evaluation was conducted to identify and promote outstanding smoking cessation initiatives among 17 cities and provinces and over 260 public health centers nationwide.

Songpa District received the Institutional Excellence Award in the "2025 Community Smoking Cessation Project Best Practice Selection Evaluation." The award ceremony took place on the 16th. Provided by Songpa District.

The core of the award-winning effort is the customized youth smoking cessation program "No Dam GO." This program was operated from February to November of last year for 45 middle and high school students in the district. It is characterized by designing personalized smoking cessation strategies based on psychological assessments tailored to each participant.

Of particular note, generative AI was used during counseling sessions to objectively mediate differences of opinion between youths and counselors and to jointly review smoking cessation information, a novel approach that drew attention.

Interactive missions designed to encourage participation in the program also proved effective. Activities such as the "Running Mission," where counselors and participants competed in running records, and the "Craft Mission," where participants created idol concert props, helped youths overcome withdrawal symptoms through engaging, age-appropriate experiences.

The results were clear. Six months after the program ended, nicotine tests showed that 35 out of 45 participants (77.8%) had successfully quit smoking. Some participants further contributed to the program's impact by serving as "Smoking Cessation Mates," encouraging their peers to join the cessation clinic and promoting voluntary expansion of the initiative.

Smoking cessation projects targeting adults were also implemented in parallel, yielding strong results. Through the operation of mobile smoking cessation clinics and support for treatment linked to hospitals and clinics, the smoking cessation attempt rate among Songpa-gu smokers reached 64.9% according to the 2025 Community Health Survey, a 15.1 percentage point increase from the previous year's 49.8%.

Songpa-gu plans to further strengthen its smoking cessation support system by expanding youth-only counseling hours, providing connections to external organizations for youths experiencing depression or school refusal, and operating small group counseling sessions.

Songpa-gu Mayor Seo Gangseok stated, "This achievement is the result of collaboration between residents and the community," adding, "We will continue to foster a healthy community through on-site, customized smoking cessation programs."

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