Project brings hope for babies at risk of alcohol in womb
SA world’s worst country for disorder marked by stunted growth
“I SAW it . . . My niece Elsie was a newborn baby and her mom, my brother’s girlfriend, was too drunk to care for her. She spent the whole pregnancy drunk and even fed the baby wine from a little bottle. Elsie got used to it and cried for it.”
Today, that baby is 20 and the Gugulethu aunt who adopted her has loved her like one of her own. But it has been an uphill battle against illness, slow development, learning disability and emotional stress.
The young woman — Elsie is not her real name — who has the mental capacity of a nineyear-old, was diagnosed with depression this week after expressing suicidal thoughts.
Her condition lies within foetal alcohol spectrum disorder, a condition in which South Africa is the world leader.
Leana Olivier, CEO of the Foundation for Alcohol Related Research, which has conducted 11 studies in four provinces, LIFELINE: The knot that symbolises the campaign against the scourge of foetal alcohol syndrome said: “In some areas the prevalence rate is as high as 25%.
“The Department of Health estimates the average FAS prevalence in South Africa is 6%. Compared with the next highest rate in the world, 1%-3% in America, this rate is alarmingly high.”
In the Western Cape, the foundation, which works nationally, was brought in as a partner by the provincial department of social development to conduct research, spread awareness and turn the tide on foetal alcohol spectrum disorder in the Saldanha Bay municipal area.
A spokesman for the department, Sihle Ngobese, said the foundation’s research was the basis of its approach to tackling the condition, which “affects people across all racial and socioeconomic groups”.
The foundation’s latest project, Do You Have 3 Minutes?, was launched in May and entails community workers taking people through a userfriendly information card which explains what foetal alcohol spectrum disorder is, how unborn babies get it, its effects, and how to prevent it.
The project is intended to reach 4 000 community members in Saldanha Bay.
“It is word of mouth,” said community worker Hayley Hofmeester, holding up the knot symbolising International FAS Day on September 9. “We don’t just speak to moms. We speak to everyone — we spread the message all over.”
Earlier this year, the foundation’s three-year Healthy Mother Healthy Baby programme was completed in Saldanha Bay.
Pregnant women were invited to sign up before 20 weeks of gestation to support them in having a substance-free pregnancy.
The babies were then examined when they were nine months old.
Said Olivier: “We enrolled
We don’t just speak to moms. We speak to everyone — we spread the message all over
200 pregnant women. At the assessment session it was wonderful to hear the success stories of women who stopped drinking during pregnancy, and women who reported how they valued and needed the support, because many were drinking due to stress.”
The Do You Have 3 Minutes? project was already having an impact, said Olivier.
“Community members are phoning us for information. They stop the staff in the street to tell of their success stories or to check information — and people are asking for training.”
The Department of Health has asked the foundation to roll the project out in all Saldanha Bay municipal clinics. Comment on this: write to tellus@sundaytimes.co.za or SMS us at 33971 www.sundaytimes.co.za