ABL holds health clinic for expectant mothers

Accra Brewery Limited has held a health clinic to commemorate the Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) Awareness Day, in Accra, on Thursday.

The day, commemorated every year, was to sensitise society, especially expectant mothers, about the risks associated with alcohol consumption during pregnancy.

This year, ABL has partnered the German Development Agency, GIZ, to hold a health enlightenment clinic at the Out-Patient Department of the Ridge Hospital.

Accra Brewery engaged doctors and healthcare professionals from the Ridge Hospital to educate expectant mothers on the effects of alcohol on the unborn child.

The company also provided tips to help prevent Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.

According to the United States-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, FASDs are a group of conditions that can occur in a person whose mother drank alcohol during pregnancy.

The effects can include physical problems and problems with behaviour and learning. However, a person with an FASD often has a mix of these problems

FASDs are caused by a woman drinking alcohol during pregnancy. Alcohol in the mother’s blood passes to the baby through the umbilical cord. Thus, when a woman drinks alcohol, so does her baby.

According to the experts, there is no known safe amount of alcohol during pregnancy or when trying to get pregnant. There is also no safe time to drink during pregnancy because alcohol can cause problems for a developing baby throughout pregnancy, including before a woman knows she’s pregnant.

All types of alcohol are equally harmful, they say, including all wines and beer.

The effort to minimize the unwanted effects of alcohol on the unborn child is part of the company’s wider on-going efforts to engage its stakeholders to collectively promote responsible drinking.

Ms Adjoba Kyiamah, Director, Corporate and Legal Affairs Director, ABL, said as a market leader, the company adhered to exemplary ethical conduct in all its activities as part of its commitment to sustainable development

She said a key focus in this regard was the promotion of a sociable world where their products were developed, marketed, sold and consumed with high regard for individual and community well-being.

She said since February 2013, ABL had organized several Responsible Retailing programmes within the environs of Accra and Tema.

She said so far 305 retailers had been trained in areas including Alcohol and the Law, Alcohol and Pregnancy, Alcohol and the Body, and Underage Drinking.

Ms Kyiamah assured participants that ABL would continue to address and promote issues of responsible drinking into the future in collaboration with its development partners.