General news from Sunday, February 7, 2021
Source: GNA
2021-02-07
Alcohol destroys the liver and also causes cancer
The Vision for Alternative Development (VALD) called on the government to prioritize cancer prevention through the implementation of an alcohol taxation policy to reduce deaths as a result of alcohol consumption.
It also urged the government to support citizens’ awareness of the prevention and control of alcohol consumption in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Mr Labram Musah, director of VALD, in a statement to commemorate World Cancer Day, which fell on February 4, and copied to the Ghana News Agency, said that alcohol consumption is a risk factor for cancer.
He said the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that if the trend in alcohol consumption continues, the world will see a 60% increase in cancer cases over the next two decades.
Musah said about 81 percent of new cases would occur in low- and middle-income countries, including Ghana, where survival rates are currently lower.
He said that tobacco has an 18% cancer risk factor, alcohol is the second leading cause of cancer and infections at 3%; followed by physical inactivity.
“Alcohol has been the cause of cancer since the 1980s, but public awareness and political action has been very low,” he said, adding that alcohol-related cancer causes 650,000 deaths each year, “said Musah.
He said that the most appropriate preventive strategies to reduce the burden of alcohol-related cancer are alcohol taxation, alcohol availability regulations and a ban on alcohol advertising.
“Evidence shows that informing people, raising awareness and highlighting the risks of alcohol cancer will lead to alcohol control measures and will reduce cancer burden and mortality.
Mr Musah said that in Ghana it is estimated that 76.6 percent of Ghanaians aged 15 and over were lifetime abstainers or abstained from drinking alcohol in the past 12 months; “This means that 23.3% of this population (aged 15 or over) consumes alcohol.
He said that public awareness of the causes of cancer is low compared to other communicable diseases, such as HIV / AIDS, while alcohol ads are running on television, radio and online portals, with no in-depth education on the results of consumption.