Introduction

Increasing alcohol consumption as a world problem according to the World Health Organization

Alcohol is more easily produced and more widely available than many other substances whose effects on mood, perception or behaviour have been used for recreational or ritualistic purposes. A new phenomenon in the world is the rapid increase in the production of alcoholic beverages, their increasingly wide distribution and the more general availability of money to buy them. So, for 20 years the consumption of alcohol has been constantly increasing. With this increase has come a corresponding rise in the frequency of the various undesirable sequelae of alcoholism, such as death due to cirrhosis of the liver, hospitalizing, road accidents, inefficiency and absenteeism resulting from a high alcohol consumption. In many countries, problems related to alcohol rank among the major public health problems, and constitute in many parts of the world a serious obstacle to socio-economic development

(From: Technical Report Series 650 of a WHO Expert Committee. Problems related to alcohol consumption.)

A proverb from Kenya:
My parents do not drink beer, thus / can look forward to the future with more confidence (Unicef Nairobi).

Yombe proverb.
"Kolo-mbungu unta nlolo, ku nzo bana nzala balele".
"The drunkard is bursting with joy, but the children at home are hungry".

General introduction on alcoholic drinks

All living things, men and animals alike, need to drink in order to live. Water is necessary for life. Water constitutes 60 % of an adult's total body weight and 80 % of a child's total body weight. The water in our bodies is constantly being replaced; it is continually being eliminated through urination and perspiration, and it must be replaced. To remain healthy we must drink enough water to replace that which is lost. Water is the only natural drink that is necessary. It can suffice for all our drinking needs. Water is the only drink of fully grown animals,

But water has no taste, it does not have an especially good flavour. To make water better to drink, man looked for a way to change it and added many different things to it. This is how a wide range of drinks were born: coffee, tea, fruit juices, sodus, and, finally, alcoholic drinks, which will be the subject of this study.

About the authors and acknowledgments

This study "Alcoholism" has been translated and adapted from the French by G. Leyden and I. van der Borght.
Published by Bureau of Study and Research for the Promotion of Health.
P.O. Box 1800 Kangu-Mayombe (Republic of Zaire)

Thanks to The State Commissariat for Public Health of the Republic of Zaire and to The Swedish Baptist Union

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be translated, adapted or reproduced in any country without prior permission. Copyright 1983: B. Pierre , J. Courtejoie and Nzungu Mavinga. Book edition
Printed in the Republic of Zaire. Registration of copyright No. 124 in the Republic of Zaire

The set of pictures alcoholism and this illustrated brochure, which serves as a manual for the series, were made on the initiative and with the support of the SWEDISH BAPTIST UNION.

The English translation has been realized thanks to the initiative and support of the World Health Organization (WHO).