Taiwan Report on Quitline Activities

Abstract

Aiming at reducing smoking population, Taiwan government adopted a successful smoking cessation quitline model from California Smokers' Helpline, commissioned a private non-profit organization—Teacher Chang Foundation, which was well-known for its quality telephone counseling service—to set up Asia's first quitline, Taiwan Smokers' Helpline (TSH) in 2003. The establishment of the quitline is a significant progress for tobacco control in Taiwan, as it built up a cooperative model with smoking cessation clinics to increase the quit rate through assisting smokers to overcome their psychological obstacles while quitting smoking.