The Sunday Mail
Sunday Debate with Tungamirai Zimondi
As Africans, we have collectively undergone and overcame common struggles like the slave trade and colonialism.
It should not end there.
BEER
We should collectively reflect on the past and continuously churn out new ideas on how to overcome today’s challenges and tomorrow’s hazards.
We should be aware of a new form of exploitation and annexation within the African territory — the alcohol industry.
Abuse of alcohol is a threat to people’s health, well being and development. Africa is being targeted by a ruthless and insensitive international alcohol industry that is losing its grip in the developed world.
Most developed countries’ governments and non-governmental bodies are increasingly monitoring the alcohol industry such that they are operating within the confines of the law. In Africa, very little of that is going on.
Hence Africa has become a very attractive market.
Producers and marketers’ behaviours are restricted in a very limited way. Alcohol control policies are lacking or are not being enforced where they exist, in the Sadc region, only Botswana has enforced its alcohol policy while all the other countries in the region have drafts that are gathering dust.
In fact, the alcohol industry has sought to take over the role of African governments in the design of alcohol policies in several African countries through the services of the International Centre for Alcohol Polices (ICAP) and international consultants, with the collaboration of often unsuspecting local organisations.
Like the missionaries and their local collaborators during colonialism, it is self? Evident that the ICAP is advancing the international alcohol industry’s obnoxious gospel.
What the industry wants and continues to seek is to influence the policy process in Africa by foisting a one-size-fits-all policy which promotes strategies not supported by scientific evidence but which protects the interests of the industry.
The policies proposed by the industry agents (like the focus on education and responsible drinking), ignores the public health impact of alcohol and the process of designing them is a subversion of the rights of countries to direct their affairs in ways that are not detrimental to the welfare of its citizens.
Using a variety of strategies, producers of alcohol are targeting young African men and women with aspirational messages and other exhortations in an unprecedented onslaught of marketing and promotion which has been recognised as detrimental to public health and social welfare.
Some of the activities have been highlighted in various reviews and tend to include sponsorship of events and programmes that attract young people, take for example fashion shows, beauty contests, sports events, music segments on radio, performances by foreign musical stars, and end-of-year or seasonal carnivals where alcohol is the centre of attraction.
Missing in the discussion on alcohol in most African countries is a clear understanding that alcohol marketing is not an ordinary economic activity and that the business of alcohol (an addictive substance with high potential for harm) can subvert the rights of individuals and the principles of democracy which many African societies are struggling to enthrone.
Several studies from Africa have noted the increasing consumption of alcohol particularly by the
Youth. The authors noted that within the last three decades, adolescents and young adults who constitute the largest proportion of the population of African countries have become the target audience for alcohol marketing.
Amid the current high rates of HIV, road accident deaths, teenage pregnancy, violence against women and sexual assault on the continent, all of which are linked with alcohol consumption, it is sad to note that some African governments are applying alcohol tax breaks.
It does not require a rocket scientist to realise that the alcohol industry exists solely for the purpose of making money for its investors and is not really concerned about the cost of harm caused by alcohol on people.
According to the World Health Organisation’s “Global Status Report on Alcohol”, alcohol now accounts for a higher proportion of deaths worldwide than HIV, AIDS, violence and tuberculosis combined.
This should really have policy makers thinking hard about what it means for the future of the continent.
The report further states that in countries with lower economic wealth, the morbidity and mortality risks are higher per litre of pure alcohol consumed than in the higher income countries.
Most African countries fall in the low economic wealth bracket.
Therefore, there is need for preventive alcohol control policies since most African countries do not have free healthcare, social welfare systems or full employment that would enable them to cope with associated harms related to alcohol.
It is, therefore, imperative that African governments’ commitment to alcohol policy development should be followed by action in addressing the harm that alcohol causes on the continent by adopting evidence based alcohol policies free from vested commercial interests as those being promoted by the ICAP.
The harmful use of alcohol is a factor that has to be addressed urgently to ensure sustained social and economic development of the African continent. It is heartening to note that in Southern Africa and East Africa, civil society organisations have collectively come together under the auspices of the the Southern African Alcohol Policy Alliance and the East African Alcohol Policy Alliance to address the challenges of harmonising and accelerating alcohol policy in their regions.
Though alcohol serves as a dependable source of tax revenue for governments, the truth is that alcohol is not an ordinary commodity like bread or pizza and the alcohol industry is a vector for health and social problems in Africa.
It is our hope that alcohol policy becomes part and parcel of the
African development agenda and should be made a talking point at regional fora like Sadc, EAC, Ecowas and the African Union, with a view of forming a common alcohol policy for the whole of Africa.
The alcohol industry exists to propagate consumption of an addictive substance through unfair ways and means that subverts the rights of young people and vulnerable groups.
The industry thrives when people carry the cost of harm caused by alcohol abuse. If Africa allows the alcohol industry to have its way, our future is bleak.
