Alcohol during pregnancy. Its effect on the unborn child
Over 500 expectant mothers from Tema and its environs have been educated on the dangers of alcohol abuse during pregnancy and on preventable birth defects caused by drinking alcohol during pregnancy.
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Organised by the Accra Brewery Limited (ABL), the programme was in line with the commemoration of the Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD) Day, which is observed on September 9 every year, to raise awareness of the dangers of drinking during pregnancy and the plight of individuals and families who struggle with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders.
Attended by expectant mothers from Tema, Ashaiman and its environs, they were educated on how alcohol could transmit through the foetal blood, which could cause physical deformities, intellectual and behavioural defects in babies.
Foetal alcohol exposure
Foetal alcohol exposure occurs when a woman drinks while pregnant. No amount of alcohol is safe for pregnant women because of alcohol’s ability to interfere with embryonic and foetal development and cause preventable birth defects and developmental disorders.
Many children who have been exposed to quantities of alcohol prenatally may exhibit alcohol-related brain and behavioural abnormalities.
A Staff Midwife at the Tema General Hospital, Ms Christiana Akonnor, who took the expectant mothers through the programme, told them that alcohol use during pregnancy could cause children to be born with cleft palate.
She expressed worry about the wrong notion often nursing mothers who abuse alcohol on the notion that it helps to cure stomach wounds after delivery. She stressed that the practice equally posed danger to new-borns, who could suffer growth and developmental disorders.
Alcohol responsibility campaign
For her part, the Director of Corporate and legal Affairs at ABL, Ms Adjoba Kyiamah, indicated that as part of its 85th anniversary celebrations, the company had embarked on a holistic alcohol responsibility campaign covering responsible retailing programme, preventing underage drinking and alcohol and pregnancy sensitisation programme.
“The idea is to create a sociable world with high regard for individual and community wellbeing,” she said.
Ms Kyiamah was of the view that alcohol abuse tended to increase medical burden for families as a result of the health implications that could arise from it.
She said ABL had for years preached responsible drinking, drinking in moderation, and if possible abstinence.
Larger society
Ms Kyiamah stressed that while ABL exists to provide job opportunities for people, it is also important to ensure that the larger society which forms part of its clientele is also protected.
Alcohol abuse, she said, was of concern to ABL; hence, our quest to sensitise and build capacity that would reduce the harm on society.
“As a subsidiary of SABMiller, our aim is to lead our retailers and consumers towards a healthier, happier and safer community,” she stressed.
She said ABL, which adopted the Alcohol Abuse Sensitisation Project in 2013, had since build the capacity of more than 1,000 retailers in Accra, Koforidua and Kumasi and hoped to expand the scope of the project to all the 10 regional capitals and selected district hospitals.
