Once again a debate has erupted in the press over alcohol abuse and its consequences in Guyana. No one would dispute that this is a major issue in Guyana but this time the heat was generated by one claim that the problem was more prevalent in the Hindu community, which by the last census was 28% of the populace. Because the problem has been so long standing, one would have thought that there were statistics to settle these disputes – and more importantly, to guide efforts to address the problem.
However, in the latest (2016) “Guyana National Household Drug Prevalence Survey Report”, while confirming that alcohol abuse was high only disaggregated the data by age, sex, marital status, educational level, employment status, type of employment, household income and region, there was no breakdown by religion. Future surveys should include this variable since any correlation might point to causative and preventative factors. And reduce debates. Some interesting factoids from the survey was that 76% of those surveyed consumed alcohol over the past year, with males outnumbering females by two and a half times. Surprisingly, tertiary graduates exhibited the same drinking abuse pattern as those who never attended school.
It is clear that there are enough statistics, however, to guide interventions which sadly appears to be lacking. In 2018, WHO/PAHO issued a “Global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol” by delineating ten target areas and policy options and interventions. These were: “1. Leadership, awareness, and commitment : Political commitment through adequately funded, comprehensive, and multisectoral national policies that are evidence based and tailored to each local context 2. Health services’ response: Providing preventive services and treatment to individuals and families at risk of, or affected by, alcohol use disorders and associated conditions
3. Community and workplace action: Harnessing the local knowledge and expertise of communities to change collective behavior. 4. Drink-driving policies and countermeasures:
Introducing measures to deter people from driving under the influence of alcohol; creating a safer driving environment to minimize the likelihood and severity of alcohol-involved road traffic crashes. 5. Availability of alcohol: Preventing easy access to alcohol for vulnerable and high-risk groups; reducing the social availability of alcohol so as to change social and cultural norms that promote the harmful use of alcohol
6. Marketing of alcoholic beverages: Protecting young people by regulating both the content of alcohol marketing and the amount of exposure to that marketing. 7. Pricing policies
Increasing the prices of alcoholic beverages to reduce underage drinking, halt progression towards drinking large volumes of alcohol and/or episodes of heavy drinking, and influence consumers’ choices. 8. Reduction of the negative consequences of drinking and alcohol intoxication: Reducing the harm from alcohol intoxication by managing the drinking environment and informing consumers
9. Reduction of the public health impact of illicit alcohol and informally produced alcohol:
Reducing the negative consequences of informal or illicit alcohol through good market knowledge, an appropriate legislative framework, and active enforcement of measures. 10. Monitoring and surveillance: Developing surveillance systems to monitor the magnitude of and trends in alcohol-related arms, to strengthen advocacy, to formulate policies, and to assess the impact of interventions.”
It should surprise no Guyanese that on the WHO/PAHO alcohol policy scoring based on the above criteria, Guyana scored lower than ALL other countries in the hemisphere. The government must do better.
However the rest of society also has a role to play. According to studies, “Ways of drinking and of thinking about drinking are learned by individuals within the context in which they learn ways of doing other things and of thinking about them. That is, whatever else drinking may be, it is an aspect of culture about which patterns of belief and behaviour are modeled by a combination of example, exhortation, rewards, punishments, and the many other means, both formal and informal, that societies use for communicating norms, attitudes, and values.”
The government and societal leaders and organisations must all cooperate to reduce the scourge of alcohol abuse.
