Pretoria - Tshwane alcohol traders say they are well aware of the risks posed by alcohol to unborn babies and the resultant foetal alcohol spectrum disorders, and were willing to work with the government in preventing them.
President of the Concerned Tshwane Liquor Traders Association, Oupa Mthombeni said women who consumed alcohol while pregnant had to understand that any drink that made them drunk was not healthy for the baby.
“People believe in the wrong things. Mothers should not care about their babies only after they are born; they should start caring when they are still inside the womb. Give that baby love from the inside so that when they are born that love is extended.”
Mthombeni said they normally educated their members about foetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASDs), and if the government wanted to educate tavern owners about it they could, but the various liquor traders associations needed to be involved, to make it realistic and impactful.
This as Deputy Minister of the Department of Social Development, Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu, announced that she would be hosting training sessions on FASDs, to educate tavern owners in Pretoria about the dangers associated with alcohol-drinking during pregnancy and breastfeeding.
This, the department said, was part of the build-up to the 9-9-9 campaign, conducted as an interactive dialogue wherein various sectors comprising, among others, pregnant women, youth, parents of children with FASDs, tavern and shebeen owners and traditional leaders, will participate.
The initiative gives community members the chance to exchange views on how to prevent FASDs and their impact on unborn babies.
Bogopane-Zulu will run the campaign from the first of September for nine consecutive days – a day in each province, with the aim of mobilising communities against the devastating impacts of alcohol.
FASDs affect at least three million (babies) in South Africa, yet they are 100% preventable.
According to Aware.org, women should not drink alcohol at all during pregnancy or if they were trying to get pregnant, to avoid any risk.
It said there was no known safe quantity of alcohol that could be consumed during pregnancy or while trying to conceive that could effectively avoid the risks; “Any amount of alcohol can harm a developing foetus”.
September 9 is commemorated annually as the International Foetal Alcohol Syndrome Day, meant to raise awareness and educate people about it.
Mthombeni said yesterday they were well aware of it and wanted to work alongside the government in fighting FASDs.
Pretoria News