Alcohol Consumption In Australia

Consumption of alcohol is predominant within Australia and entwined with many social and cultural activities (AIHW, 2013). It has been shown that the consumption of daily drinking has however declined between 2010 and 2013 by 7.2% to 6.2% this was also shown to be at its lowest level since 1991 (AIHW, 2013). During 2010 and 2013, there was a large increase in the proportion of people who had never consumed a full serve of alcohol from 12.1% to 13.8%, where as younger generations are increasing the alcohol consumption by 14.4 to 15.7 year olds are consuming their first alcoholic drink before they are barely 16 years old and well under the legal age law (AIHW, 2013). In Australia between 2013 and 2014 there was an increase of 183.7 million litres …show more content…
This also includes Fetal alcohol syndrome, partial Fetal alcohol syndrome; alcohol related neurodevelopmental disorders and alcohol related birth defects (DrinkWise, 2014). Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder can be caused by a range of different problems ranging from mild to very severe, however most of these problem will not be noticed at birth and may not be obvious until the child is much older (CYH, 2015), most individuals with Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder will look completely normal and won’t even known they have it (CYH, 2015). Alcohol is very dangerous to an unborn baby; it can damage the Fetals growth, brain development and the development of the baby itself. The major aspect that can really and truly affect your baby is binge drinking whilst pregnant which is very harmful (DrinkWise, 2014). The Australian Government is very much committed to reduce the harms that are caused by alcohol these including to the result of women drinking during pregnancy. The department of Health have invested a substantial amount over several years to improve our understanding of Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (Health, 2015). There are a large amount of negative effects that can arise from drinking during pregnancy; these include brain damage, birth defects, social and behaviour problems, development delay, low IQ and …show more content…
It was shown that 5,000 people under the age of 21 have died through alcohol related injuries, which involved underage drinking (Camy, 2015). Early alcohol consumption by an underage will result in alcohol use disorder, which can lead to alcohol abuse and dependence (Camy, 2015). Under age consumption of alcohol can increase the risk of academic failure and illicit drug use, underage drinking can lead to terrible hangovers or death by alcohol poisoning, suicide, homicide and traffic crashes. The Australian Government announced on the 10th March 2008 that there would be a $53.5 million national binge drinking strategy, to reduce the high levels of binge drinking amongst underage and young Australians (DrinkingNightmare, 2015). The campaigns primary target audience are teenagers aged 15 to 17 years old as well as 18-25 year olds, however it was discovered that the high proportion of alcohol that is consumed is by adolescent young adults, which is placing them into the high risk level of risky drinking (DrinkingNightmare, 2015). The second target audience is the parents of 13 to 17 year olds, as it is believed that parents can help guide and set boundaries to reduce risky underage drinking (DrinkingNightmare, 2015). In order to reduce the likelihood of underage drinking and experimenting with any sort of alcohol before the legal age, underage