Maidenhead Mosque is pleased to announce the start of a free community service to help people give up smoking. The service, which has been set up by Councillor Asghar Majeed (Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead) and the community leaders at the Mosque, is being provided by Solutions4Health who provide such services for many Mosques and other locations across Berkshire East.

Cllr Majeed commented “This is an important service that we felt we needed to provide for our local community. Smoking related diseases account for over 120,000 deaths each year and the Asian community has a high incidence of coronary heart disease of which smoking is one of the biggest risk factors. We know many people want to stop smoking, but they find it extremely difficult to give up. With the new service, which will run at the Mosque every Saturday between 2pm and 4pm, we can provide advice, guidance, support and up-to 4 weeks medication to help people to quit smoking and improve their health. A service such as this has been shown to improve your chances of successfully quitting by 4 times.”

Asiya Kaiser, of Solutions4Health, who coordinates the service for Berkshire East, commented “We are delighted to announce that these services are in addition to the existing NHS Stop Smoking Services, which are provided by the Berkshire East NHS Primary Care Trust and the two services will work jointly. These services are totally free for all users of the Mosque and consist of 6 confidential face to face clinics and up-to 4 weeks of Nicotine Replacement Therapy (NRT) products to help smokers to quit. We also provide advice on weight management, diabetes and healthy living at these clinics.”

The clinics, which will be run by Dr. Azeem Khan, will begin on Saturday 30th May 2009 and will be held at the Maidenhead Mosque, Holmanleaze, Maidenhead, SL6 8AW from 2pm to 4pm.