Cape Town - Many of those who imbibe in South Africa are drinking so much they are almost certainly damaging their health, according to damning new data on alcohol consumption.
South Africa has the highest alcohol consumption rate in Africa, and one of the highest in the world, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
In its latest report on alcohol and health, the UN organisation has compiled country by country data on the state of alcohol consumption per capita between 2008 and 2010.
In a report with in-depth analysis of drinking patterns in South Africa, it was found that 28 percent of males were “lifetime abstainers”, as were 54.9 percent of women. The average of abstainers, including former drinkers who now don’t, is just shy of 60 percent, roughly the same as the global average.
But among the rest, the “drinkers”, the total alcohol per capita among men in 2010 was 32.8 litres of “pure alcohol”, and 16 litres among women.
The average between the two genders is thus 27.1 litres, which is 10 percent above the global average.
The prevalence of “alcohol use disorders” and “alcohol dependence”, was 10 percent and four percent respectively, in men, and 1.5 percent and 0.7 percent in women. Of concern is that these figures are three times the average for the whole of Africa.
The booze favoured by South Africans was 48 percent beer, 18 percent wine, 17 percent spirits and 17 percent “other”.
Cathy Vos, national spokeswoman for the SA National Council on Alcohol and Drug Abuse (Sanca), said: “What the WHO is showing us is that there is an increasing problem in SA. The problem Sanca has is that people coming to Sanca’s 29 centres nationally is decreasing. Therefore, it seems that we need the help of the media to do more awareness programmes – so that increasing numbers, as presented by the WHO, can get help.
“Alcohol abuse is an illness, but it can be treated. That is what our communities are not understanding. Alcoholism is such a stigmatised illness, it’s such a ‘silent illness’ in the family. People don’t understand that there is help available and the success of treating alcohol is extremely successful,” Vos said.
The national helpline number is 086 1472 622.
The WHO reported 3.3 million deaths in 2012 were due to harmful use of alcohol, and warned: “Alcohol consumption can not only lead to dependence but also increases people’s risk of developing more than 200 diseases including cirrhosis and some cancers. In addition, harmful drinking can lead to violence and injuries.”
The report also found that harmful use of alcohol makes people more susceptible to infectious diseases such as tuberculosis and pneumonia.
“More needs to be done to protect populations from the negative health consequences of alcohol consumption,” says Dr Oleg Chestnov, WHO assistant director-general for Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health.
“The report also points to the fact that a higher percentage of deaths among men than among women are from alcohol-related causes – 7.6 percent of men’s deaths and 4 percent of women’s deaths – although there is evidence that women may be more vulnerable to some alcohol-related health conditions compared to men. The authors note there is concern over the steady increase in alcohol use among women,” the WHO reported.
“We found that worldwide about 16 percent of drinkers engage in heavy episodic drinking – often referred to as ‘binge-drinking’ – which is the most harmful to health,” explains Dr Shekhar Saxena, director for Mental Health and Substance Abuse at WHO.
“Globally, Europe is the region with the highest consumption of alcohol per capita, with some of its countries having particularly high consumption rates.” - Cape Argus