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New study puts alcohol abuse in children at 25%
Dr Joyce Nalugya-Sserunjogi, a psychiatrist at Makerere University. PHOTO/SYLIVIA KATUSHABE
What you need to know:
- The study was done in Mbale District among 500 primary school-age children.
A new study supported by Makerere University has revealed that 25 percent of children aged six to 13 are using alcohol, contravening the new government policy which puts the drinking age at 21.
While presenting the report on Tuesday, Dr Joyce Nalugya-Sserunjogi, a psychiatrist at Makerere University College of Health Sciences, said the study was done in Mbale District, among 500 primary school-age children.
“We found that 25 percent of children aged six to 13 are drinking alcohol. Both girls and boys are drinking almost at the same rate. We also found that one of the factors associated with alcohol use is accessibility,” she said.
“Children we studied are those under care –they are not street children. So they got homemade alcohol and also factory-made alcoholic beverages. Low socioeconomic status is a contributing factor,” she added.
According to the report, the rate of alcohol use was slightly higher among girls at 25.4 percent while for boys, it stood at 25.0 percent. Some parents are brewing alcohol from home and in that way, children are involved in the alcohol business and also consuming the products.
“Some children were also working for or stealing money to buy alcohol. Some children were also using money for scholastic materials to buy alcohol. Children are also drinking from the classroom. We need to work together to mitigate this alcohol use,” Dr Nalugya added.
Commenting on the report, Dr Hafsa Lukwata Sentongo, the acting assistant commissioner for mental health and control of substance use at the Ministry of Health, said the statistics are alarming.
“What is happening in one corner of the country reflects a little bit of what is happening in the country generally. Of the 500 children examined, 7.2 percent were having alcohol use disorder (addiction). Once the community is drinking, even children will drink,” she added.
According to Dr Lukwata, there are many reasons why children are drinking but one of them is parental neglect.
“Parents who don’t have food in their homes, their children are more likely to drink just to wade off the hunger,” she added. According to a 2014 national survey, alcohol use in the country is at 27 percent.
Dr Nalugya on the other hand, warned that when people start drinking at an early age, the risk of developing alcohol use disorder and other mental health problems is higher.
“I would recommend that from the community level, we create awareness from the community level, and come up with by-laws to tame the use of alcohol. The families that are brewing alcohol can also be supported to move away from this venture,” she added.
Dr Lukwata said Uganda has been rated the highest consumer of alcohol in Africa and “we are the third in the world.”
“Most of the people that we are dealing with in the country don’t seem to see it as a problem. Alcohol is related to more than 200 disease conditions. The rate of alcohol use is worrying, especially among women,” she said.
The assistant commissioner also noted that even fathers have continued to drink. “We have seen those dangers on the road, the carnage on the road, the excesses of anger among the armed forces. We are seeing a lot of anger among leaders and teachers,” she said.
“When we see it happening among children, it is a problem because the next generation will just be gone. We will not have children that will care for us when we are old,” she added.
