‘One in five men abuse alcohol’

At least one in every five Malawian men abuse alcohol, making them vulnerable to non-communicable diseases such as high blood pressure, diabetes and cancer an official from the Ministry of Health has disclosed.

Speaking when he opened a day-long Malawi Alcohol Policy National Steering Committee meeting in Lilongwe on Friday, assistant director of clinical services in the Ministry of Health Michael Mpaka said many Malawian men consume a lot of alcohol.

“It is known that one in every five men in Malawi are involved in harmful use of alcohol. It is also evident that excessive consumption of alcohol is a common risk factor for high blood pressure and other heart diseases, including diseases such as cancer as well as diabetes and there is need for increased awareness to make people consume less alcohol,” said Mpaka.

He said organisations such as Drug Fight Malawi need to work with government if the battle against excessive use of alcohol is to be won.

Drug Fight Malawi executive director Nelson Zakeyu said his organisation will step up efforts to fight alcohol abuse.

“The President recently spoke about the dangers of taking alcohol in sachets and we know that battle is coming to an end, but we will now work hard to make people aware that even the other kinds of beers are also dangerous if excessively consumed,” said Zakeyu.

He pleaded with government to hasten the process of approving the draft alcohol policy so that many lives can be saved.