Although it’s hard to quantify, it is fairly certain that South Africa has a pretty substantial problem with alcohol abuse. While I personally question the 10% price tag (the South African Medical Journal said alcohol abuse costs the country 10% of GDP, which seems very high by global standards, and the study had some methodological quirks), I do think that in South Africa, poverty, violence, lack of education, and alcohol abuse are closely linked in a vicious circle. Thus, it’s positive that government is taking steps to improve the situation. However, as Helanya Fourie, an economist at Econex points out, there is no evidence that such a ban is effective at decreasing alcohol abuse. Bans in other countries have produced mixed results, and it’s definitely not clear that in South Africa, where there is a huge and unadvertised informal alcohol market, a ban will work. Fourie suggests several other interventions that have worked elsewhere, but government seems wed to its ban. Seems like a waste to me. – FD
ALEC HOGG: According to Econex the Government’s proposed ban on alcohol advertising may not be the most appropriate policy to address alcohol abuse. Helanya Fourie, an Economist at Econex and one of the two people who put together this report on the implications of perhaps better ways of addressing this issue, joins us now from our Cape Town studio. Helanya, before we go into the report you started-off saying, “It’s all based on”, or rather, “The whole argument was based on the South African Medical Journal, in 2009, saying that alcohol abuse costs the country ten percent of GDP”. That’s an enormous figure but you didn’t argue it, one way, or the other. As a gut feel though, is that number close to being accurate?
HELANYA FOURIE: Well, Alec firstly, thanks for the interest in our research. I think I should emphasise the fact that the purpose of this report was not to dispute the figure that was published in the South African Medical Journal. However, when you compare the ten percent of GDP or the ten percent figure to similar international studies, the cost to South Africa, or the costs to an economy of alcohol abuse is usually between about one and two percent, only taking into account tangible costs. However, we should note that the figure quoted in the South African Medical Journal includes tangible as well as intangible costs. So, this includes aspects, such as costs to health care, crime, road accidents, and fatalities. Intangible costs would include aspects such as absenteeism from work, arriving at work with a hangover and being less productive, and especially then also premature mortality and mobility, which is, of course, a very big cost factor.
ALEC HOGG: It’s a very difficult and rather unscientific conclusion, I guess, that one comes to but the whole issue here is, it is almost like a very blunt instrument is being used to address what is clearly a problem in the country, and that is outright banning of alcohol advertising. Has there been a precedent anywhere else in the world and was it successful?
HELANYA FOURIE: Alec that is also a good question; there are a number of international precedents and just kind of at a high level we’ve found that in many instances the results that these advertising bans have brought about are ambiguous. There is no clear evidence that the ban on advertising limits or lessens the damage cause by alcohol misuse. I think what is important to note in this regard is that there are two core linkages here. There is the link between alcohol use and alcohol misuse, but there is also the link between alcohol advertising and alcohol use, and one should be careful not to directly relate the alcohol advertising industry to alcohol misuse.
GUGULETHU MFUPHI: Helanya then if there are no sufficient lessons to be learnt from the international community, what do we, as South Africans, need to get right first?
HELANYA FOURIE: Well I think firstly, it is important to ensure that the existing policy is correctly enforced. We should try harder to make sure that alcohol is not sold or available to children under the age of eighteen. We should keep alcohol retailers accountable for their sales. There are some interesting examples from other countries. For instance, an Australian study showed that just reducing the time until which alcohol may be sold at night, from 1:00am to 12:00pm, already had a massive impact on reducing the damage associated with alcohol misuse. There are therefore, definitely things that we can learn from other countries but first, we need to get our own house in order.
ALEC HOGG: Yes, that would certainly affect the “Phuza Thursday” crowd, no doubt. What about the other implications or the other result that you came out with, of the age or the minimum age for being able to consume alcohol. You had some interesting conclusions on that.
HELANYA FOURIE: Yes, well I think firstly, the South African’s minimum age, for alcohol consumption, is on par with the rest of the country. I think that by further reducing that, you would definitely run into some big hurdles but as I said earlier, the important point is to make sure that our authorities correctly enforce the existing policy. I mean a policy is only as effective as it is enforced.
ALEC HOGG: But with the United States having a minimum age of twenty-one, in many States, you said that that does have an influence as well.
HELANYA FOURIE: It could but I guess it really depends on the difference. I mean would you argue that a person of twenty-one years of age is a much more responsible person than eighteen years of age? That is sort of a difficult point to argue.
ALEC HOGG: Well, you put it in your research that because in the United States, at twenty-one years of age, it reduced traffic offences by sixteen percent, so that was a pretty specific finding, and that’s what I’m trying to get at. Are you saying that that’s not really a relevant issue?
HELANYA FOURIE: No, that is definitely a relevant issue but I also think there are ways and means around that. One could impose stricter bans on driving under the influence of alcohol on, for instance, people below the age of twenty-one. That is just one idea, which we came up with. Whereas, for instance, older people who are more experienced drivers would be able to have a blood alcohol content of level of a specific level. You could say that you take a zero tolerance approach to people under the age of twenty-one.
ALEC HOGG: Helanya, we do know that many people survive on grants and those Social Grants are paid in cash. Now in the United States, if we could learn from them, they issue stamps and those stamps can’t be used to buy alcohol. Of course cash can be used to, just about buy anything you like. Having lived in a rural area for a long time I’ve seen that the cash does often find its way to the bottle store. Was that something you looked at?
HELANYA FOURIE: Well, we didn’t actually look at stamps but we did consider where there’s an option, for instance imposing stricter regulations on the times during which alcohol is sold and, for instance, when during days that grants are issued, I mean one could consider not selling alcohol during those days, but these are all rough policy ideas. I mean, of course, one would have to investigate this further.
GUGULETHU MFUPHI: But also there’s an informal market that is also selling the alcohol to these grant recipients.
HELANYA FOURIE: Yes, and I think that is one of the very big problems in South Africa. Our informal or unregulated alcohol market is quite extensive and perhaps, before we do something as severe as restricting the advertising of alcohol, one should perhaps rather focus on licensing as many of these unlicensed or unregulated alcohol retailers as possible. This, of course, would then also be or would also make it easier to…well, just enforce the existing regulation.
