Cape Town - High levels of foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) have been found in the fishing community of Saldanha Bay along the West Coast, where about six percent of children are born with the disorder.
The findings are contained in a three-year study commissioned by the Western Cape Department of Social Development in partnership with the Foundation for Alcohol Related Research.
Addressing a media briefing in Cape Town on Monday, social development MEC Albert Fritz said although the figures were concerning, the study had provided the department with the necessary information to fight the problem more effectively.
“The prevalence of foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) on the West Coast was found to be 64 children per 1 000 affected, which is 6.42 percent,” he said.
Fritz said in total 1 452 of 1 535 Grade one pupils in the area were seen in the first phase of the study.
He said the department hoped to develop more programmes to target specifically the youth because it had become clear that the average age of mothers with FASD babies had dropped and teenagers were more affected.
Foundation for Alcohol Related Research chief executive Leana Olivier said the study, the first of its kind in a fishing community, showed a surprisingly high prevalence rate and indicated a serious problem in the area.
Olivier said rural communities were far more vulnerable because they did not have access to information, but said communities in urban areas were also battling.
“Khayelitsha and other areas on the Cape Flats are our neglected communities. Very little has been done in the Metro area.”
Olivier said most of the work done around FAS had been completed in the rural areas, leaving urban areas neglected. She said another problem was the higher- and middle-income groups who thought they were not at risk and it was merely a poor man’s problem. “Whether you drink champagne or beer it is the alcohol that damages the baby.”
Zooming in on the controversial dop system, Olivier said the department’s research indicated that the problem was no longer as prevalent. She said the real threat in the Western Cape was shebeens, which have been mushrooming throughout communities.
Olivier said as part of the study the department also worked with 200 mothers through the Healthy Mother Healthy Baby Programme.
She said that during the course of the three years, none of the mothers involved in the project gave birth to children with FASD.
“What was phenomenal was that of all the women who participated in our healthy mother healthy baby programme, none had children with foetal alcohol syndrome.”
She said they found that the community was hungry for information about the syndrome. “They knew vaguely that alcohol could harm their babies, but not the extent of the damage. Once they heard about the damage they were shocked.”
Olivier said the buddy system was a good way to keep pregnant women from drinking. “You need a buddy just to take your hand and help you through the pregnancy and not to drink, because it is very lonely if you are the only person at a party who is not drinking.”
Cape Argus