Call for alcohol price hike

Thandeka Moyo, Health Reporter
ALCOHOL consumption has no health benefits and authorities should keep it out of reach of members of the public by hiking prices, a global study suggests.

Although a third of the global population (15-49 age group) consumes alcohol in the form of beer, wine and liquor, the study says no amount of intake is beneficial to humans.

According to the study published by the Lancet Journal last week, alcohol is a leading risk factor for death and disability and was responsible for nearly 2.8 million deaths globally in 2016.

The study entitled, ‘Alcohol use and burden for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016’, was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

“The conclusions of the study are clear and unambiguous: alcohol is a colossal global health issue and small reductions in health-related harms at low levels of alcohol intake are outweighed by the increased risk of other health-related harms, including cancer,” reads the study.

Findings also suggested that policies that will decrease population-level consumption be prioritised as means of addressing alcohol abuse.

“The most effective and cost-effective means to reduce alcohol-related harms are to reduce affordability through taxation or price regulation, including setting a minimum price per unit (MUP), closely followed by marketing regulation, and restrictions on the physical availability of alcohol.”

The most affected countries include China, India, Brazil, Russian Federation, United Kingdom and South Africa which recorded 13 601 alcohol-related deaths in women.

Globally, alcohol use was the seventh leading risk factor for both deaths and disability-adjusted life-years in 2016 after poor diet, high systolic blood pressure, smoking, air pollution, and unsafe water with under-nutrition remaining the leading risk factor for children under five years old.

According to the study, solutions include increasing taxation which creates income for hard-pressed health ministries, and reducing the exposure of children and adolescents to alcohol marketing.

@thamamoe