Reducing booze the key to Greenlanders’ health, review finds

SIKU CIRCUMPOLAR NEWS SERVICE

NUUK, GREENLAND – Cut down on the booze and people will live longer and die less violently – that’s what a task force looking into the state of Greenlanders’ health has determined.

A drop in alcohol consumption in Greenland from 1985 to 1999 coincided with lower mortality rates from accidents and homicides.

The home rule government credits its anti-alcohol campaign with reducing alcohol abuse over 13 years.

The average amount of alcohol consumed by Greenlandic men fell from an average of 17.9 litres in 1985 to 13.1 litres in 1998. At the same time, the death rate from injuries and homicides among men fell 40 per cent.

In 1987, Greenlanders over the age of 14 drank an average of 22 litres of pure alcohol per person every year. By 2001, Greenlanders in the same age group were drinking only 12.5 litres per person.

This drop occurred after the Home Rule Government officially recognized that alcohol was threatening its population’s health and social well-being and took measures to make booze more expensive and less socially acceptable.

As part of its anti-alcohol campaign, the government placed high taxes on all alcoholic beverages, causing the price of a bottle of wine in a restaurant to reach as much as $125. At the same time, several high-ranking home rule politicians and other public figures in Greenland announced publicly that they were alcoholics and would seek treatment for their dependency.

“I think VIPs backing anti-alcohol campaigns had the greatest effect for the reduction of alcohol consumption in Greenland in the period 1985 to 1998,” said Lasse Neilsen, a health researcher who worked for Greenland’s department of health until 2001.

Four years ago, Alfred Jakobsen, who was then Greenland’s minister of health, started a review of the Greenlandic health-care system to find out if there were any low-cost and effective solutions to the combination of challenges Greenland was facing.

Jakobsen set up six working groups to look at a wide range of health issues. Recently, these working groups reported their findings:

* Life expectancy in Greenland lags behind that of the populations in Scandinavia and other Arctic populations such as Nunavut, Nunavik and Alaska.
* Greenland’s health profile is comparable to that of Eastern Europe and is much lower than it should be, according to Greenland’s per capita income.
* Greenlanders show a high rate of chronic and non-communicable diseases and a high rate of injuries, suicides and homicides.
* Alcohol abuse is responsible for many injuries and homicides, and reducing the amount of alcohol that Greenlanders drink could have a positive impact on health and longevity.