A new study found that alcohol bans could be a sensible policy to help South Africa through new health crises, according to a study published on Monday.
Based on local hospital admission data, the authors said that their work demonstrates that “alcohol prohibition correlates with a decrease in health seeking behaviour for injury”.
Several organisations in the liquor industry have started pre-emptive lobbying in the face of possible new alcohol bans as COVID infections are rising in a third wave. At the same time, The Southern African Alcohol Policy Alliance is pressuring the government to institute tougher alcohol controls to pre-empt the new wave of infections.
The study was published in the journal Drug and Alcohol Review.
The authors, all associated with Stellenbosch University or the South African Medical Research Council, which helped fund their work, compared data from Worcester Regional Hospital for 2020 with the same from 2019, across trauma admissions, trauma operations, and stab wound admissions, “as a proxy for intentional injury”.
A pattern of decreased hospital use was observed in 2020 when there were bans and partial bans, and a resurgence following even the partial lifting of bans.
“Each time a complete ban was instituted, there was a significant drop in trauma volume which was lost by allowing alcohol (even partial sales),” the researchers wrote.
Specifically, there was a 59–69% decrease in trauma volume between pre-Covid-19 and the first complete ban period. When alcohol sales were partially rein-stated, trauma volume significantly increased by 83–90% then dropped again by 39–46% with the second alcohol ban.”
The study “demonstrates a clear trend of decreased trauma admissions and operations during complete alcohol prohibition compared to when alcohol sales were allowed or only partially restricted,” the authors wrote.
They concluded that an alcohol ban is an effective way to reduce strain on healthcare infrastructure.
“These findings suggest that temporary, complete bans on alcohol sales can be used to decrease health facility traffic during national emergencies.”
The authors considered the possibility other measures such as the curfew could have affected the result, but argued that it was unlikely.
Source: Business Insider
