Brazzaville, 29 August 2007 -- “The harmful use of alcohol in the African region is rising and the situation will worsen if appropriate action is not taken to address the problem.”

This is contained in a report by WHO Regional Director for Africa, Dr Luis Sambo, to the fifty-seventh session of the WHO Regional Committee for Africa, taking place in Brazzaville, Congo.

“Episodic or binge drinking is a significant characteristic pattern of consumption in the Region”, Dr Sambo says in the report.

According to a 2006 report by a WHO Expert Committee on Problems Related to Alcohol Comsumption, the estimated proportion of deaths attributable to alcohol consumption in the African Region showed a burden of 2.1% in 2000 and 2.2% in 2002.

Dr Sambo says estimates show that several African countries have some of the highest levels of per capita consumption in the world, especially when traditional beverages are included.

Much of the alcohol consumed in the African region, especially in rural areas and among the urban poor, includes home-made beverages using traditional methods of either fermenting or distilling matted grains, fruits, sugar-cane and honey.

“Because these beverages are poorly monitored for quality and strength, consumption may lead to serious health consequences and deaths”, Dr Sambo said. Besides the direct effect of intoxication and dependence, harmful use of alcohol is linked to more than 60 disease conditions with short- and long-term consequences, including mental and behavioural disorders, gastrointestinal infections, cancers and cardiovascular diseases.

The Regional Director added that studies in some African countries have linked alcohol consumption with high-risk sexual behaviour, HIV infection and other sexually-transmitted infections, and reduced adherence to antiretroviral and tuberculosis treatment. The same studies have also shown that alcohol-related disorders carry a high degree of co-morbidity with other substances such as nicotine dependence and drug use.

“The enormous cost of harmful use of alcohol in terms of health and social harms cannot be ignored and call for regulation of alcohol consumption”, Dr Sambo says.

He suggests that countries in the region should acknowledge the harmful use of alcohol as an important public health issue, forge a common position on the harmful use of alcohol, conduct national surveys using standardized tools, and make available resources to set up mechanisms to collect, analyse and disseminate data for evidence-based decision making.

While proposing that WHO should prepare a strategy to address the harmful use of alcohol in the African region, Dr Sambo pledged the Organization’s technical cooperation with countries for a forthcoming Global Survey on Alcohol and Public Health.

Other proposals contained in the report are the establishment , by WHO and partners , of an observatory for monitoring the harmful use of alcohol and the adoption of evidence-based alcohol policies and agreements on specific issues relevant to regional public health needs.

For more information contact:

Technical contact

Dr Therese Agossou

Tel: + 47 241 39385

Email: agossout [at] afro.who.int

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Samuel T. Ajibola

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Email: ajibolas [at] afro.who.int