While the Senior Programme Manager at the Soul City Institute, Nelisiwe Hlope, issued a call to action, she said it was critical for police, parents, and communities at large to get involved in making communities alcohol-safe. “[informal] Outlets will sell alcohol to children as young as 5 years old as they are not regulated and laws are not enforced. We need greater involvement from parents and police,” Hlope said. "An evidence review on South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, and Zimbabwe shows how the availability of alcohol influences increased rates of IPV. The review shows that: Alcohol- related harm manifests itself in men being 3 times more likely to commit intimate partner violence and increases women’s risk of experiencing GBV by 6 times when alcohol is heavily consumed." Bongiwe Ndondo, the board Chairperson of SAAPA SA, said it was very important to discuss alcohol regulation and how it affects our public health scenarios and policies. “We need to look at these structural drivers of GBV. We need to put the evidence into action and ask what kind of behaviour we want to encourage in our communities to address GBV?”
Despite evidence of legislation to protect against GBV and regulate the alcohol industry, implementation of these policies is low. The findings of the review intensifies the need for greater implementation of laws and policies as well as further research to assess the effectiveness of structural interventions in the global South. Recommended solutions to solve the problem include increasing public investment in funding research on alcohol availability and GBV in the global south, sensitising communities to alcohol-related intimate partner violence and increasing rigour when conducting research on alcohol and the link to violence. Leane Ramsoomar-Hariparsaad from the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) said,” We must sensitise communities to the association between alcohol and GBV. We can’t continue to deny the role alcohol plays in GBV.” “We need to act urgently to address these two public health challenges by developing structural interventions, effecting policy and systemic change in tandem with a suite of other interventions that have been shown to address harmful alcohol use”, Ramsoomar-Hariparsaad added.
Dec 2022 | Collective Action Magazine
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