Alcoholism in Ghana?A socio-cultural exploration

Abstract

A vast literature has accumulated in recent years, examining the disease concept of alcoholism, and analyzing the interaction of biomedicine with indigenous healing systems in colonial and post-colonial societies. Social scientists have consistently emphasized the social context of alcoholism, although their works have been largely ignored. This article engages the literature on the social history of medicine in Africa, and works on alcohol use in non-Western societies, in an attempt to offer an understanding of alcoholism in Ghana rooted in Ghanaian cultures and history. It explores how alcohol's established ties with spirituality influences Ghanaian perceptions of alcoholism. Based on interviews, highlife music, popular literature, and the few written works on alcohol use in Ghana, the article examines the social construction of the alcoholic in independent Ghana.

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“…Pressures created by the multiple roles they must fulfil, gender discrimination, and factors associated with financial conditions, hunger, disease, overwork, violence, and statutory offenses account for the poor mental condition of women. Our results also showed a higher rate of psychoactive substance abuse with a psychoactive sub-induced anxiety disorder (F19.180) in the population than previous studies conducted in Ghana which included little information on these substances and the rate at which they are used [60][61][62][63][64][65].…”

Signs of the Times: Discourse Ecologies and Street Life on Oxford St., Accra

“…B. Crentsil in 1985. Crentsil's song also raises the question of alcoholism in Ghana (Akyeampong 1995), akpeteshie being a very potent alcoholic drink made from sugar cane and very popular among urban youth and the poor. But the central premise of the song is the credit “arrangement” that pertains between the akpeteshie seller and the hapless alcoholic, who comes to her with sad stories about his salary not taking him till the end of the month and the difficulties he has paying his children's school fees as a means of extracting more drink on credit from her.…”

The Prevalence of Alcohol Use among Road Users and Its Impact on Traffic Crash Severity in Ghana

“…The Australian guideline for instance stipulates that healthy people should not exceed four standard drinks per drinking occasion to minimise the potential risks associated with alcohol related road injuries. Increasing urbanisation (Ghana Statistical Service, 2012) which is associated with anonymity and breakaway lifestyles in cities and increasing incomes (Reynolds, 2015;WHO, 2014) are both promoting excessive alcohol use (Akyeampong, 1995) in Ghana. As expected, coincidentally, the increasing rate of economic development in Ghana is also reflected in the rapid motorisation of the country.…”

“…As it was a communal activity, cultural norms encouraged people to consume alcohol in moderation. It was the cooperate responsibility of families to check the drunkenness and alcoholism of their kin at drinking occasions (cited in Akyeampong, 1995). Further, due to the low alcohol content in local beers and the large quantity of solids suspended in them, consumers consider local beers as much as food as drinks (Haggblade & Holzapfel, 2004).…”

“…In fact, some farmers in Northern Ghana go to their farms with pito and use it for the dual purpose of "food" and "drink" to enable them to ease feelings of hunger and work until they return home late in the evening to take their meals. Nevertheless, with the commercialisation of local beer and the proliferation of factory made drinks in contemporary Ghana, there has been a paradigm shift with regard to the trends of alcohol consumption in the direction of increasing pattern of alcohol consumption in Ghana (Akyeampong, 1995(Akyeampong, , 1996(Akyeampong, , 1998Lentz, 1999;Luginaah & Dakubo, 2003) just as there has been in many other countries (Allamani et al, 2011). This has been attributed to the independence of the youth due to their migration to the urban centres and their engagement in wage earning activities (Akyeampong, 1995; see also Willis, 2006).…”