Make Ramadan your time to stop smoking with Yorkshire Smokefree

Yorkshire Smokefree is offering its support to Muslim smokers who may be thinking about using Ramadan to kick the habit for good.

Zahra Velji from Yorkshire Smokefree Doncaster visited Jamia Sultania Mosque earlier this month after she was invited to an open day by Doncaster Civic Mayor Majid Khan. Zahra shared the personalised support on offer from Yorkshire Smokefree, which includes face to face advice in convenient locations, telephone support on hand through extended opening hours, and a quit programme available online 24/7.

This year, Ramadan takes place from 5 May to 4 June, and is a period in which Muslims take part in a fast during daylight hours. Along with consuming food and drink between sunrise and sunset, smoking is also considered breaking fast.

Zahra said: “The open day provided a great opportunity to engage with the local Muslim community and leaders/imams of the mosque. I really enjoyed the event and felt it was a great opportunity to to share the support Yorkshire Smokefree can offer with the right people within the mosque. I felt the event was a great success, and hope that is has opened doors to help smokers within the community.

“Since the open day, I have been working with the Civic Mayor and leads of the mosque to discuss how we can support as many people as possible to quit during the month of Ramadan.”

Yorkshire Smokefree offers services in Barnsley, Calderdale, Rotherham, Sheffield, and Wakefield. To find out more about Yorkshire Smokefree, visit www.yorkshiresmokefree.nhs.uk or call 0800 6120011 (free from landlines) or 0330 6601166 (free from most mobiles).