Socio-economic changes have influenced an increase in alcohol consumption in Africa during the last half of the 20th century. Public health problems linked to alcohol have also risen. How has alcohol consumption in Africa changed and what have been its effects?

In the 1960s and 1970s drinking patterns in Africa began to diverge. Abstainers, brewers and drinkers responded in various ways. Emerging middle classes had more money and leisure time for drinking more bottled alcohol. Alcohol use became a recreational activity unconnected to rituals and unsupervised by elders.

Changing socio-economic factors in the 1980s and 1990s, rapid technological advances and globalisation placed new pressures on people’s lives: they developed new networks, roles, practices and obligations. In many places, alcohol consumption is associated with masculinity: men meeting for drinks in the evening are increasingly common.

Whilst drinking with friends is pleasurable, it also gives men the chance to build networks as they express their generosity and wealth by buying rounds of drinks. Some women, as increased earning capacity gives them greater freedom and social stature, are also consuming more alcohol. Parents who misuse alcohol may buy drink instead of food or clothing their children.

As people’s inhibitions are lowered by alcohol, they may be more likely to practice risky sexual behaviour. Men and women are also more likely to engage in or fall victim to intimate partner violence.

Demand for alcohol is high:

• In sub-Saharan Africa bottled alcohol constitutes between 10 and 50 percent of the market. Home brewed alcohol (legal or illicit), travellers’ imports, cross-border shopping, smuggling and alcohol from industrial sources make up the rest.
• In Ghana, Mauritius and Zimbabwe there is two or three times more home brewed alcohol than commercially bottled alcohol.
• In Kenya 80 percent of the alcohol consumed is non-commercial. In Tanzania and Uganda the figure rises to 90 percent.

Home brewed alcohol helps sustain many people, especially women, who depend on it for their livelihoods. While it costs less than bottled alcohol, the strength of home brewed beverages varies in volume between two and eight percent, with spirits ranging between 40 and 50 percent. Impurities can lead to cases of methanol poisoning and toxic levels of nickel, manganese and aflatoxins.

Government regulations dictate the types of drinks available at drinking establishments and the hours they can operate. Monitoring and controlling them is a challenge, however, and attempts to legislate and police consumption may drive it underground. There are signs that religious practices influence alcohol consumption in some communities. There are also gender differences: many women still abstain.

Public health measures to raise awareness of the harmful effects of alcohol may persuade some to reduce heavy and binge drinking practices. Interventions to improve an individual’s economic circumstances by, for example, providing microfinance loans may have the most success in motivating people to reduce their heavy drinking.

Source(s):
'Tackling drugs to reduce poverty', id21 insights health 10, February 2007

id21 Research Highlight: 23 January 2007

Further Information:
Sheryl McCurdy
University of Texas Houston Health Science Center
School of Public Health
7000 Fannin Street
Houston
Texas 77030
USA

Contact the contributor: sheryl.a.mccurdy@uth.tmc.edu

University of Texas Houston Health Science Center, School of Public Health, USA

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