The influence of industry actions on the availability of alcoholic beverages in the African region

Abstract

The corporate social responsibility activities of the global alcohol industry have provided a vehicle to promote industry-favorable policies and increase the physical, economic, social and psychological availability of alcohol.

Harmful Use of Alcohol: A Shadow over Sub-Saharan Africa in Need of Workable Solutions

“…Thirdly, unrecorded consumption and its “fatal consequences” are being used by the alcohol industry to prompt some governments to rethink the prohibition of traditional home brewed alcohol and allow for tax breaks for industrialized production of alcoholic beverages aimed at the lower end of the market [10,11]. However, there is currently no scientific evidence for the conclusion that much of the non-commercial alcohol is contaminated or toxic [63].…”

“…Alcohol industry involvement and investment is rising throughout the African continent, following a general strategy to increase demand, availability and access to alcoholic beverages [11]. In April 2016, the Financial Times reported on a 6% increase in alcoholic beverages volume from January through March and a 12% boost in revenue for SABMiller in Africa [86].…”

“…Several studies have documented a change towards a “public, binge drinking culture over the weekends”, leading to important health, social and development consequences, and have underlined the need to protect the population in general, and women and children in particular, from alcohol-related harms [6,7,8,9]. Moreover, recent scientific publications and WHO reports on harmful use of alcohol in Africa have issued a “public health warning” in response to the large investments and aggressive policy and marketing activities of the alcohol industry in their strategy to capture new markets in this continent [10,11,12,13]. The merger of SABMiller and AB InBev, the worlds’ two largest beer producers, has been viewed as having far-reaching consequences for health in Africa [14].…”

Alcohol: taking a population perspective

“…These companies are known to have an active role in alcohol policy formation, and have generally been found to support policies with the weakest evidence of effect, and oppose those likely to have greater effect on reducing consumption and harms 68,69 .…”

The World Health Organization’s mechanisms for increasing the health sector budget: The South African context

“…[33] The alcohol sector industries in SA have often argued against increases in excise taxes by noting the potential for increased illicit liquor consumption. [38,39] Even though taxes on unhealthy foods will not lead to an increase in illicit trade, the regressivity of excise taxes on these foods along with alcohol and tobacco [40][41][42][43][44] is worth debate. With an ever-increasing Gini coefficient (0.66 in 1993 and 0.7 in 2008), SA is one of the most economically unequal societies in the world.…”