The negative impact of alcohol abuse is grave problem throughout the world, except perhaps in the Islamic countries where its manufacture and use is strictly prohibited.

About 2 billion people worldwide consume alcoholic drinks, which can have immediate and long term consequences on health and social life. Over 76 million people are currently affected by alcohol use disorders, such as alcohol dependence and abuse. Depending on the amount of alcohol consumed and the pattern of drinking, alcohol consumption can lead to drunkenness and alcohol dependence. It can result in disablement or death from accidents or contribute to depression and suicide. Moreover, it can cause chronic illnesses such as cancer and liver disease in those who drink heavily for many years.

Alcohol causes 1.8 million deaths a year, which represents 3.2% of all deaths worldwide. Unintentional injuries account for about a third of the deaths from alcohol. Alcohol is the third most common cause of death in developed countries. In the limited number of developing countries where overall mortality is low, alcohol is the leading cause of illness and disease.

Damage to human life is often described in terms of loss of “disability-adjusted life years” (DALYs). This measure takes into account the number of years lost due to premature deaths as well as the years spent living with disability.

Worldwide, alcohol causes a loss of 58.3 million DALYs annually, which represents 4% of the total loss of DALYs from all causes. Mental disorders and diseases of the nervous system account for about 40% of DALYs lost because of alcohol. (Source: WHO)

According to a study undertaken by The National Centre on Addiction and Substance Abuse (CASA) at Columbia University in 2005, the following statistics about alcohol abuse and alcoholism were discovered:

* The 25.9% of underage drinkers who are alcohol abusers and alcohol dependent drink 47.3% of the alcohol that is consumed by all underage drinkers.

* Alcohol dependence and alcohol abuse cost the United States an estimated $220 billion in 2005. This dollar amount was more than the cost associated with cancer ($196 billion) and obesity ($133 billion).

* Every year in the U.S. more than 150,000 college students develop health problem that are directly or indirectly related to alcohol use and abuse.

* American youth who drinking before the age of 15 are four times more likely to become alcoholics than young people who do not drink before the age of 21.

* In the United States during 2004, 16,694 deaths occurred as a result of alcohol-related motor-vehicle crashes. This amount was approximately 39% of all traffic fatalities. This amounts to one alcohol-related death every 31 minutes.

* Every day in the U.S. more than 13,000 children and teens take their first drink.

* The 9.6% of adult alcoholics drink 25% of the alcohol that is consumed by all adult drinkers.

* Every year, 1,400 American college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die from alcohol-related inadvertent injuries, including motor vehicle accidents.

Here too in Guyana alcohol abuse has become a serious problem as we have our fair share of alcohol related accidents, health problems, domestic violence, absenteeism from work etc.

The overall adverse social and economic consequences are probably difficult to measure but certainly it is significant and at least in the sugar industry it has been identified as a major reason for absenteeism.

The social impact in our country has been devastating with an increasing number of broken homes, child abuse and domestic violence a variety of medical problems.

Therefore there is a need for a concerted effort by our society to aggressively work towards arresting this grave problem which could lead to terrible long term consequences which prove near impossible to reverse.

The Health Minister Dr. Leslie Ramsammy therefore correctly observed that: Alcohol is a serious social problem and Guyana is not unique to this but we cannot ignore its impact.”

And on this note the announcement by him that Guyana has joined several other countries engaged in an impact of alcohol on life survey, is heartening

According to the minister using centralised data analysis and standardised measures, the study is to improve upon previous international and European alcohol researches and better inform European public health policy, by identifying gender differences in at-risk sub-groups and by seeking to better specify and understand the differing correlates and conditions of problematic alcohol use between the genders.

He also explained that the outcome will yield information about a number of alcohol related domestic violence cases, violence and accidents, among other issues.

We would all hope that this is just a beginning of the fight against alcohol abuse and there will be several other tangible initiatives in the near future aimed at curbing this problem which is creating havoc in today’s society.