What South Africa’s COVID alcohol restrictions point to for future policy

Alcohol consumption is associated with various public health problems. These include high rates of trauma-related injuries and death. In South Africa, around 62,000 people die from alcohol-related causes annually. Most of these are personal injury and trauma.

Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the South African government has implemented intermittent alcohol prohibitions and restrictions. The aim was to ease the burden of people with alcohol-related trauma in hospitals when many patients were being admitted with severe COVID-19. These regulations demonstrated the benefits of reduced alcohol consumption on the South African healthcare system.

The restrictions also highlighted who the influential players were in the alcohol regulation space – and the strategies they used to protect their interests. In our recent paper we analysed media reports to identify these actors. We also looked at the strategies they employed and what this means for alcohol regulation in the future.

Read Yandisa’s full article on The Conversation.

Watch her interviews on alcohol restrictions and future policies on eNews Channel Africa and Newsroom Afrika.