The Global Network for Tobacco-Free Healthcare Services is delighted to congratulate and warmly welcome our eleven new GOLD Forum members. We are especially pleased to have participants from Catalonia and the Basque Country (Spain), Ireland, and Taiwan represented within our Global GOLD Forum community.

The 2026 GOLD Forum Event, held in conjunction with the Global Network Conference, took place on May 20, 2026, in Malmö, Sweden. We were thrilled to welcome more than 100 participants from 17 countries around the world, joining both in person and online.

The event served as a successful pre-conference to the 31st International Conference on Health Promoting Hospitals and Health Services (HPH) and provided an inspiring platform for international exchange, collaboration, and learning.

Our Global Conference featured outstanding speakers and presentations addressing current challenges and developments in tobacco and nicotine prevention, health promotion, and tobacco-free healthcare services. Their valuable contributions greatly enriched the event and inspired participants from across the international network.

The conference presentations covered a wide range of current topics in tobacco and nicotine prevention and health promotion, including:

• “Snus use - consequences for society, medicine and individuals (including treatment of nicotine dependence)”
  Matz Larsson, MD, PhD. Associate professor, Lund University
  Senior physician at Örebro University Hospital. Specialized in respiratory medicine, Sweden
• “New nicotine products causing an epidemic among Swedish youth”
  Helen Stjerna, Secretary General, A Non Smoking Generation, Sweden
• “The Tobacco-free strategy in France : from scratch to a national success”
  Marianne Hochet, Senior Executive, RESPADD, Tobacco-free health services France
  GNTH and HPH boardmember
• “Between Relief and Burden: Nicotine Dependence in the Context of Mental Disorders”
  Reto Cina, medical Director Salus Clinic, Boardmember German Network of Smoke-Free Hospitals and Healthcare Institutions, Germany
• “Tobacco control in Hungarian healthcare settings in light of the GNTH concept”
  Zsuzsa Rákosy-Vokó, PhD. Director of Prevention
  Bethesda Children's Hospital and Hungarian Health Promotion Association, Hungary
• “New Tobacco Control Policies and Their Outcomes in Taiwan”
  Dr. Ching-Fen Shen, Director-General of Taiwan’s Health Promotion Administration

GOLD Forum Members 2026

Asia (Taiwan)

• China Medical University Hospital 
• Chi Mei Medical Center
• Chi Mei Liouying Hospital
• Ditmanson Medical Foundation Chiayi Christian Hospital
• Taipei City Hospital, Zhongxing Branch
• Hsinchu Cathay General Hospital

Europe

• An Draighnéan, HSE Disability  (Ireland)
• CLÍNICA SANT JOSEP (Spain – Catalonia)
• Hospital de Palamós – SSIBE (Spain – Catalonia)
• Fundació Hospitalàries Sant Boi (Spain – Catalonia)
• OSI Bilbao BasurtoSpain (Spain  Basque )