South Africa, faced with a surge of Covid-19 infections in many of its provinces after the Level 4 and 5 hard lockdowns, was struggling to ensure hospital beds were available to deal with infected people who required hospital care and the country needed an urgent intervention.
Currently, the sales ban and curfew have been in place for two weeks and we believe that it is critical to define a new normal once these restrictions have been lifted. In the medium- to long-term, South Africa has to implement strategies to create a safe drinking environment in the country without having to resort to a ban on liquor sales.One indicator of the burden from alcohol faced by South Africa is that there are between 29,000 and 62,000 deaths per year, depending on which method is used.
Alcohol is promoted as a lifestyle choice and is associated with success, glamour and social acceptance. Alcohol is very cheap in South Africa, with much sold for between R4 and R6 per standard drink of 12g of pure alcohol. It is often sold in above-average size containers in restaurants or from alcohol outlets . This brings down the price per unit and increases the risk of heavy drinking. Finally, treatment options for people seeking help are minimal, especially outside of urban centres.
Marketing of alcohol should be suspended immediately except at points of sale, with no “lifestyle” advertising and no special offers permitted. Such a point-of-production to point-of-sale tracking system contributed significantly to the recently-reported 43% drop in alcohol consumption in Russia. The suggested designation of alcohol-related trauma as a notifiable condition and the proposed tracking system must be permanent features of future alcohol harm management.