Social issues were brought to the fore this past week when at the World Health Assembly (WHA) in Geneva, Minister of Health, Dr Leslie Ramsammy, who assumed the presidency of the WHA on Monday, in his speech, called on the World Health Organisation, (WHO) to tackle domestic violence and sexual abuse, particularly of young children. At the same forum, the WHO later announced that it would draw up a global strategy to tackle youth binge drinking and other forms of harmful alcohol consumption blamed for 2.3 million deaths a year.
These issues, along with cigarette smoking (nicotine addiction), the abuse of hard and prescription drugs and other substances and obesity constitute serious threats to public health and are being recognized as such. WHO assistant director-general for non-communicable diseases and mental health, Dr Ala Alwan, said at the forum that the harmful use of alcohol causes serious public health problems.
The devastating effect domestic and sexual violence has on the world’s human resources is not always immediately visible. However, sufficient studies have been done worldwide, which show that these social ills contribute to poor mental health, lead to addictions and can ultimately increase the numbers of orphans.
Youth binge drinking has been on the rise around the world leading to death by alcohol poisoning and mainly through traffic accidents. Then there is the correlation between alcohol abuse and violence – domestic, sexual and personal. Indeed, if the WHO is to tackle domestic and sexual violence effectively it would need to look at all contributory factors, and alcoholism, while it is not the only causative issue, is a major contributor.
The largest forum of health ministers in the world have since agreed that the strategy, which should be ready in two years would take into account national, religious and cultural contexts and would include recommended national measures such as guidance on the marketing, pricing, and distribution of alcoholic drinks and public awareness campaigns.
One hopes that this strategy would have as much international impact as the WHO’s ‘no-tobacco’ campaign, which although it took some time to catch on has now seen many countries ban public smoking, limit public advertising and sponsorship, particularly of sporting events and enforce the placing of warnings on cigarette packages. Already, as had happened with ‘big tobacco’ when the WHO first launched its campaign in 2003, global alcohol producers and marketers have indicated their willingness to work with the WHO to reduce irresponsible and inappropriate consumption of alcohol.
Having identified substance abuse as a major determinant in domestic and sexual violence, which he chided the WHO as being too timid to tackle, one hopes that Minister Ramsammy will use his presidency to lead the charge here at home. The anti-alcoholism strategy will not come on stream for two years and will not automatically translate into any gains in the war on violence.
