Colleagues all, sister and brothers, comrades
Many see it a necessary ingredient for enjoying life. I see it as a mighty barrier for good health, for long, productive and disability-free lives. I see it as an impoverishing factor. I see it as a major cause for under-development in Guyana and in the world. And I believe if we are truly going to earn better lives in our country, and globally, we must deal with this scourge – the harmful use of alcohol.
The truth is not only that in Guyana, for more than ten years now, I have heard the President of Guyana urging Guyanese to avoid the harmful use of alcohol. The President of Guyana this week again highlighted the scourge of harmful use of alcohol in our society. In addressing the issue once again, His Excellency President Jagdeo has shown that political will to address the harmful use of alcohol exists in Guyana and that leadership in the fight against harmful use of alcohol is coming from the highest level of Government.
All Guyana should join the President and the Government in fighting the scourge of harmful use of alcohol.
In 2007, Guyana joined the rest of CARICOM in addressing the crisis of the non-communicable diseases and the Port of Spain Declaration of 2007 addressed the issue of harmful use of alcohol as a major determinant of diseases and under-development.
In my address to the World Health Assembly in 2008, when I served as the President of the Assembly, I stated as follows: ‘We must address the crisis of lifestyle. We must address the problem of substance use dependency, including the use of tobacco and the harmful use of alcohol. The global consumption of alcohol and tobacco constitutes a global crisis for health and development. Our peoples, while consuming too much alcohol and tobacco, do not consume enough vegetables and fruits in our diet. Compounding the problem, our peoples are not engaged in enough physical activity. The consequence is a pandemic of overweight and obesity and a growing non-communicable disease crisis.’
In 2010, at the World Health Assembly, I spoke on behalf of the Ministers of Health of CARICOM in support of the WHO Resolution adopting the ‘Draft Global Strategy for the Reduction of Harmful Use of Alcohol’.
This strategy was first presented at the World Health Assembly in 2008 when I served as its President. In supporting the ‘Draft Strategy’, Guyana and her CARICOM sister countries gave sound recognition of the enormity of the health, social and economic problems posed by harmful use of alcohol to our peoples.
The harmful use of alcohol is a public health and a developmental scourge, not only for Guyana, but also globally. Guyana has recognized that in our bold efforts to stop poverty and to ensure all Guyanese enjoy a decent standard of living and better lives, we must address the problem of harmful use of alcohol.
The President of Guyana, His Excellency Bharrat Jagdeo, has reminded everyone that this is a problem to be resolved by society’s commitment and involvement. It cannot be resolved by any Government working alone.
The harmful use of alcohol is a public health and economic issue and is a fundamental problem in the development agenda of any country.
Globally, the harmful use of alcohol has been recognized as a major risk factor for poor health.
Increasingly, the role of alcohol in the social determinants of health and poverty is being recognized. Harmful use of alcohol leads to poor health, and is a contributing factor for suicide, increase in accidents and traffic deaths and injuries, general community violence and crime, domestic disharmony and domestic violence and sexual abuse. From an economic perspective, it ruins the lives of individuals, families and communities. Productivity from the perspective of individuals, families, communities is severely impeded by the harmful use of alcohol. The harmful use of alcohol has caused too many dreams, far too many for any family, any community and any country, to be squandered.
Thus, it is very evident that the harmful use of alcohol is far more than a public health scourge. It is a security and developmental scourge and it is a global problem that the world must recognize overall in the effort to reduce poverty. The harmful use of alcohol and the problems and under-development that emanate from this problem are  good examples of the inextricable nexus between health and development.
In Guyana, the Government of Guyana, particularly through the Ministry of Health(MOH), has been aggressively pursuing programmes to educate and make people aware of the harmful effects of alcohol and have been promoting various programmes to reduce the harmful use of alcohol. This week, His Excellency President Bharrat Jagdeo has again demonstrated Guyana’s robust political will to address the problem of harmful use of alcohol.
But as the President reminded everyone, it is a problem that requires more than political will to solve. It is a problem that requires the community working together.
I believe the President of Guyana is correct again in reminding the faith-based leaders that they must embrace this struggle if they are truly serious about saving the lives of our people, particularly the lives of our children and young people.
The Government of Guyana has recognized the harmful use of alcohol as a major risk factor for poor health and in our poverty reduction programme. The Government recognizes that the harmful use of alcohol contributes to poor health for the individual and that it has serious social consequences for families, communities and the country.
The harmful use of alcohol compromises both individual and social development, leads to ruined lives for individuals and families and damages the fabric of communities.

Startling Statistics

While studies have not been conducted in Guyana to determine the full impact of the harmful use of alcohol, the MOH has begun to conduct studies to determine the social and economic impact of alcohol on the lives of the Guyanese people. However, we estimate at this time that almost 4% or approximately 250 deaths due to traffic accidents and suicide and other violent acts are linked to the use of alcohol. This does not take into consideration the number of persons who die from cirrhosis of the liver and other diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, heart diseases, cancer etc., for which the harmful use of alcohol might have served as  a major factor.
Harmful use of alcohol is a major, avoidable risk factor for various neuro-psychiatric illnesses and for the non-communicable diseases, such as diabetes, heart diseases, cancer and hypertension. It is also associated with increased risk for certain infectious diseases, such as HIV, TB and pneumonia. It is, moreover, the major cause of intentional and unintentional causes of deaths, such as suicide, traffic accidents, domestic violence and sexual abuse.
Almost half of the suicide cases in Guyana are linked to alcohol use and many cases of domestic violence and sexual abuse in Guyana are linked to harmful use of alcohol.
Globally, it is estimated that the per capita consumption of alcohol is about 6.5 litres of pure alcohol. This is an enormous amount of alcohol being consumed and when one considers that about half of the population do not drink alcohol, it means that those who drink usually over-consume.
In Guyana, the per capita consumption of alcohol equals about 6 litres of pure alcohol per year and this means that those who drink, consume between 10 and 12 litres of pure alcohol per year.
The MOH has been increasing its research efforts in order to determine the full impact of the harmful use of alcohol in our country. One of the issues we are trying to determine is how much of a role alcohol plays in injuries – intentional and unintentional – in our country.
Presently, the MOH is completing its study to estimate the percentage of injuries that report to the hospital which are related to alcohol use. The data collection part of this study has been completed and the MOH is working with PAHO/WHO to compile and analyze the results. This study is part of the Valencia Project.
Guyana is presently taking part in the WHO STEPS Survey. This study is intended to gather data on chronic diseases and all related risk factors. A large section of the study is designated towards gathering information on alcohol as a risk factor for the chronic diseases in Guyana.
The MOH, also with the support of PAHO/WHO, has been conducting serial surveillance studies to determine the risks of children to the lure of alcohol. According to the Global School Survey that was conducted in Guyana in 2004, which targeted students between the ages of 13 and 15 years old, 35.5% of the students had at least one drink during a random month, with 46.9% of boys and 25.9% of girls reporting having at least one drink for that month.
Most troubling was that 28.3% of the students who drink have drank so much alcohol that they have been drunk at least once in their young lives so far. More than 17% of the students had got into trouble with their parents, guardians or teachers, have missed classes and have suffered from hangovers because of too much alcohol.
The MOH believes that alcohol represents not only a major public health scourge, but it is a major reason for under-development in many families.
We applaud the call by the President of Guyana for people, organizations and particularly the church to join the crusade against the harmful use of alcohol.

Support Programmes

The Ministry of Health has a substance abuse rehabilitation programme as part of its Demand Reduction Programme, which is under-used today. The main reason for this under-utilization is because the MOH does not have the staff to provide comprehensive mobilization and everyday individual support. The churches,non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and other volunteers could help us to make better use of the rehabilitation programme.
At the same time, we are working with the schools to target children and ensure that children do not develop the habit of alcohol use. The Ministry of Education has been a strong partner in this effort.
A growing partnership with the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport is also emerging.
There are several programmes in place and on October 2, Guyana will observe its second No Alcohol Day, joining countries like India, as we highlight the problem of harmful use of alcohol in Guyana and around the world.
We hope everyone heeds the call of the President to join in reducing and eliminating the harmful use of alcohol in Guyana.
While I appreciate and am very grateful for the increasing interest of NGOs in the fight against HIV, I believe that our NGOs should not be driven by the fact that HIV attracts financial resources, but should be driven by those social issues that bring diseases, suffering and death and are significant factors in under-development.
We should heed the President’s call to address the harmful use of alcohol. While our financial resources are limited, I believe we have the people power to stop the harmful use of alcohol now.