UNAM Launches Online Smoking Cessation Program with 80% Success

The National Autonomous University of Mexico's Faculty of Medicine runs a Clinic against Tobacco that now delivers a fully digital cessation program. The model uses podcasts, WhatsApp groups, Zoom video sessions and artificial‑intelligence tools to support smokers who want to quit.

Twelve weekly group sessions of about 60 minutes each are held online with 10‑15 participants per cohort. Participants give informed consent and may receive individual session summaries via email; meetings are not recorded to protect privacy. According to coordinator Guadalupe Ponciano Rodríguez, eight out of ten participants have successfully stopped smoking, most being adults around 47 years old. The initiative builds on a program that began in May 2000 with in‑person cognitive‑behavioral therapy and has shifted to this remote format to expand reach.