Dear HIFA and CHIFA colleagues, (with thanks to Global Health Now)
In our discussion on Alcohol Use Didorders we have barely mentioned fetal alcohol syndrome...
Below are extracts from a news item in The Telegraph. For me, the tragedy is that mothers are 'unaware of the implications for their unborn children'. It is hard to imagine the lifelong suffering and guilt that must result for so many mothers, their children and their families.
South Africa’s alcohol addiction and the disabled newborns paying the price
Mothers-to-be are drinking during pregnancy, unaware of the implications for their unborn children
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/foetal-alc...
South Africa’s Western Cape [has] has the highest rate of foetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) in the world – a group of debilitating and life-long disabilities caused when a mother drinks during pregnancy.
Whilst FASD affects about 0.7 per cent of the world’s population, in the Western Cape rates are as high as 31 per cent, and across South Africa, it’s estimated that 11 per cent of all newborns are affected each year.
Symptoms range from learning and behavioural problems, including low intelligence, lack of impulse control, and poor reasoning skills, to a more severe condition known as foetal alcohol syndrome, which leads to facial deformities, vision and hearing impairments, and severe organ damage... Many children with the condition struggle to finish school, live independently in adulthood, or engage in formal employment...
“People drink every day. Beer, vodka, boxed wine. They drink everything. I can say 99 per cent of them drink every day,” says Rochelle Ntsimbi, a 22-year-old mother-of-one...
According to the WHO, even drinking as little as 30 grams – or three drinks – on more than one occasion during pregnancy is enough to cause permanent disability to your child...
In many townships like Avian Park, drinking whilst pregnant isn’t taboo. “Often, pregnant women don’t want to feel like the odd one out – people will be confused as to why they aren’t drinking,” explained Dr Olivier...
Best wishes, Neil
Join HIFA and CHIFA: www.hifa.org/join
HIFA profile: Neil Pakenham-Walsh is coordinator of HIFA (Healthcare Information For All), a global health community that brings all stakeholders together around the shared goal of universal access to reliable healthcare information. HIFA has 20,000 members in 180 countries, interacting in four languages and representing all parts of the global evidence ecosystem. HIFA is administered by Global Healthcare Information Network, a UK-based nonprofit in official relations with the World Health Organization. Email: neil@hifa.org
