The booze ban imposed at the height of the pandemic may have helped lessen the impact of another ill — fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD).
That’s the opinion of medical experts who believe tighter alcohol laws — including the raising of the legal drinking age to 21 — would have huge public health benefits.
In a commentary published in the African Journal of Primary Healthcare and Family Medicine, researchers from the University of the Western Cape’s school of public health, and the centre for interdisciplinary studies of children, families and society, argue the alcohol ban had potentially reduced the incidence and prevalence of FASD, and could be a “game-changer” for the prevention of alcohol disorders in South Africa.
FASD includes fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) and other alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorders and is a leading source of non-genetic developmental and intellectual disability globally.
The opinion paper said: “Although the impact of the alcohol ban on FASD incidence was not explicitly, empirically assessed (this is because it cannot be done immediately), we submit that reduced availability and consumption of alcohol can decrease the incidence of FASD.
Research evidence shows that reduced availability and consumption of alcohol will facilitate both short- and long-term health risks, including FASD.”
The paper's authors, UWC researchers Babatope Adebiyi and Ferdinand Mukumbang, said the health gains made during the restrictions should be used as evidence by policymakers, healthcare practitioners and academics “to continue advocating for stricter alcohol control measures in SA”.
There is no doubt that the disruption in the supply of alcohol would have had some impact on the FASD prevalence in 2021 and 2022
— Prof Charles Parry, head of the alcohol, tobacco and other drug research unit at the South African Medical Research Council
“We believe that the lockdown has provided the South African government with opportunities to address the gaps identified in an FASD policy guideline and to implement existing policy recommendations for FASD in South Africa,” the paper said.
“Human rights activists have reported that the ban on alcohol sales and consumption does not violate human rights as long as it is done to protect children.
"While a total ban on alcohol sales and consumption is not sustainable, we believe that stricter alcohol control measures based on local evidence, such as an increased price of alcohol and excise duties, can be implemented in SA.”
Tighter alcohol restrictions are unlikely to be popular among the liquor industry which had to endure the difficult blanket ban on the sale and transportation of alcohol during lockdown two years ago, condemned for its negative impact on business and jobs.
On the other hand, the ban was applauded by medics who lauded the emptying of casualty wards as less drinking brought fewer violent trauma cases.
Prof Charles Parry, head of the alcohol, tobacco and other drug research unit at the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC), agreed that the booze bans in 2020 and 2021 were “likely to have had an impact on the prevalence of FASD because many pregnant women would have consumed less alcohol because it was simply less available”.
“There is no doubt that the disruption in the supply of alcohol would have had some impact on the FASD prevalence in 2021 and 2022,” he said.
Parry, who is involved in FASD research work in some rural parts of the Western Cape with Stellenbosch University and the University of North Carolina in the US, said while the prevalence of FASD has not decreased over the years, “FAS has decreased in [these areas] as a result of our interventions”.
Adebiyi and Mukumbang recommended that the national liquor policy and the long-awaited Control of Marketing of Alcoholic Beverages Bill that aims to limit the advertising, sponsorship and promotion of alcohol, be implemented and enforced.
The 2016 Liquor Amendment Bill, which has been on hold since 2018, seeks to tighten alcohol restrictions and increase the legal drinking age from 18 to 21.
Dr Leana Olivier, CEO of Foundation for Alcohol-related Research (Farr) said their research on drinking practices during the alcohol ban is expected to be finalised by the end of this year.
“At this stage it is way too early to make a confirmed statement [on whether the alcohol ban reduced FASD incidence] as some of the babies conceived during the alcohol ban periods have not been examined and diagnosed.”
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