Prevalence of Alcohol Addiction in Africa

This chapter assessed prevalence of alcohol consumption and alcohol addiction in Africa using Demographic Health Survey (DHS) data from 19 countries. It made a case for alcohol addiction based on number of days spent consuming alcohol as it has been suggested that there is a linear relationship between dependence on alcohol and the mean number of drinks consumed per day, in the past 12 months. The chapter observed high prevalence of alcohol consumption in Rwanda (76%), Madagascar, Uganda and Lesotho (54%). There were highest rates of addiction in Ethiopia (30%) and Rwanda (17.4%) and lowest in Madagascar (0.3%). The overall presentation is that Africa faces a major challenge with growing burden of alcohol consumption, and lack of effective implementation of policy hinders the fight against alcoholism.