Klerksdorp Midweek, Klerksdorp - South Africa has the world’s highest rate of Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), but weak regulation to stem this condition. This is the reality as the country marks International Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) Awareness Day on Tuesday September 9, a day to confront one of the most preventable yet devastating public health crises affecting our children. FASD is caused by drinking alcohol during pregnancy, even small amounts cause harm. Its effects are lifelong, impacting a child’s brain development, learning ability, behaviour, and health. Some communities in the Western Cape and Northern Cape, which have the highest rates, report that as many as one in three children are affected.
When combined with teenage binge drinking it creates a cycle of harm that passes from one generation to the next.
To break this cycle, we need stricter alcohol regulations such as alcohol advertising bans and minimum unit pricing to reduce binge drinking, proposals supported by Hold My Hand, a countrywide campaign supporting the Presidential led National Strategy to Accelerate Action for Children (NSAAC) and Rethink Your Drink, an alcohol harms reduction campaign by the DG Murray Trust (DGMT). Minimum Unit Pricing (MUP) sets a price per unit of alcohol, making massive, cheap bottles of alcohol more expensive and less accessible.
Rethink Your Drink challenges the norms, policies, and industry practices that make excessive drinking so widespread, especially in under-resourced communities and among the teenagers who are often the target of alcohol marketing.
“When a pregnant woman drinks, it’s not just her health at stake, it’s the child’s entire future,” says Kashifa Ancer, Campaign Manager for Rethink Your Drink, which works alongside Hold My Hand to reduce heavy drinking and protect children from harm. “This is a national emergency we can prevent, but it requires all of us, government, communities, and individuals to act together.”
There is a strong body of evidence that shows that children and teens experience substantial harm due to
other’s drinking as well as their own consumption of alcohol, with one in five pedestrian deaths amongst children - some even while walking to school.
According to an extensive review of the data titled: “Reducing Alcohol Harms to Children and Adolescents in South Africa: Evidence for Action” commissioned by DGMT, South Africa’s binge drinking culture fuels a cascade of harm for children:
- Drinking during pregnancy can cause irreversible brain damage.
- Heavy drinking by parents often leads to unsafe, violent homes, neglect, and long-term trauma.
- Alcohol is closely linked to gender-based violence (60% of femicides, two-fifths of rapes), road accidents, homicides, and injuries affecting children.
- Teenage binge drinking increases risks of violence, depression, risky sex, and dropping out of school.
The burden on health in South Africa is not exclusive to expectant mothers.
Alcohol use is harmful at any age, but is especially harmful to teenagers. Alcohol use during the teenage years is particularly damaging because the brain is still developing right up to age 25. Drinking puts young people at higher risk of depression, violence, risky sexual behaviour, and dropping out of school.
In South Africa’s binge drinking culture, data shows that if you put three boys and five girls in a room, at least one boy and one girl is likely to binge drink. Preventing alcohol harm in teenagers isn’t just about saving lives now, it’s about protecting futures, strengthening families, and building a safer society.
