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South Africans are very fond of alcoholic beverages, with 50% of the country drinking alcohol at some point within any given month, but health experts believe this is a significant concern that requires big changes to be made to the pricing, advertising, and availability of these beverages.
According to Eighty20’s latest report on consumption and spending in South Africa, the country is the 5th biggest consumer of alcohol in the world – measured in per capita consumption.
The report highlighted that males dominate in terms of consumption, with 62% drinking some form of alcohol weekly or monthly, compared to 36% of women.
However, the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) said this needs to change. Professor Charles Parry, with the SAMRC, noted that alcohol abuse is the fifth biggest risk factor for death and disability in the country.
He further noted that the measured consumption per capita in South Africa works out to five drinks per drinker per day, and often, some don’t drink this much, which means others are drinking even more.
He added that research showed that if every person in the country drank at moderate or intermediate levels, they’d only be consuming about 32% of the recorded amount of alcohol that we actually consume.
For reasons why South Africa has a drinking problem – besides social and economic pressures – Parry said it’s because alcohol is too cheap, advertising is aggressive, and it’s too widely available (often sold at unregulated outlets 24 hours a day).
Parry noted that the industry stakeholders believe that education is the way forward in addressing these issues, but he believes they should just stop manufacturing so much alcohol.
For example, if we look at South African breweries alone, their production capacity is enough to provide four 330ml cans of beer for every beer drinker in the country per day, he said.
“This is a substantial amount, and it’s unnecessary,” Parry said. He added that the same goes for the wine industry, where there’s a gluttony of production, which includes large amounts sold for very cheap.
Parry also noted that changes need to be made to the size of the bottles that beverages are sold in and how alcoholic drinks are advertised.
“Research has found that when people drink out of larger containers, they tend to drink more over an occasion,” he said.
Additionally, he said there needs to be stricter marketing regulations – adding alcohol should never be advertised in a romanised way, such as signifying success. “We can’t leave it to the industry to correct it themselves,” he said.
Therefore, Parry said the industry should refrain from pushing back the health authority and government’s attempts to reduce the harm from drinking – which should include:
- Price increases;
- Tougher controls on advertising; and
- Restrictions on the availability of alcohol.
“A good example is the Covid-19 pandemic, where the control of alcohol resulted in substantial savings of lives and trauma, as well as taxpayers’ money in the hospitals.
“The only thing that comes from industry pushback is onerous court battles that cost all of us taxpayer monies,” Perry said.
“We often see the alcohol industry interfere with policy processes, and it needs to stop. The economic costs of alcohol abuse likely far outweigh the economic benefit the country derives from the excessive sale of these drinks,” he added.
According to Perry, the economic costs include the heavy consequences of alcoholism, including loss of productivity, death, government medical bills associated with the injuries resulting from drinking, increases in gender-based violence, deterioration of school performance in young drinkers, and its associated with mental health issues.
The SAMRC, therefore, called on the government to take drastic steps, including introducing new regulations.
Read: Double blow for food prices in South Africa
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