Pregnant women cautioned to shun alcohol

Pregnant women have been cautioned to stay away from taking alcohol in order to prevent malformation and retardation of the brain of the fetus. Those who also have plans to become pregnant must do away with any form of alcohol which has the tendency of causing fetus disorders.
A team of Psychiatric Nurses, Ashiabgor Courage, David K. Larbi and Christopher Boamah Ababio, all from the Tamale Teaching Hospital on Fiila Fm Lunch Time Health Matters Programme today said women must stay away from alcohol to improve the health status of their wards.
Fetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) is a pattern of mental and physical defects that can develop in a fetus in association with high levels of alcohol consumption during pregnancy.
According to the team of Psychiatrics, developing brain cells and structures can be malformed or have development interrupted by prenatal alcohol exposure. This they said can create an array of primary cognitive and functional disabilities including poor memory, attention deficits, impulsive behavior, and poor cause-effect reasoning as well as secondary disabilities.
They added that, alcohol exposure presents a risk of fetal brain damage at any point during a pregnancy, since brain development is ongoing throughout pregnancy.
In 2008, a report carried out by the website Medical News Today listed Ghana among countries where alcohol consumption is high. The report says, mostly, the alcohol consumed is illicit.
As of 1987, fetal alcohol exposure was the leading known cause of intellectual disability in the Western world. In the United States and Europe, the FAS prevalence rate is estimated to be between 0.2-2 in every 1000 live births.
The lifetime medical and social costs of FAS are estimated to be as high as 800,000 US dollars per child born with the disorder. The psychiatrics therefore cautioned women to shun away the practice of alcohol intake no matter the quantity when they are pregnant.
By: Saaka Alhassan/Fiilafmonline.com/Ghana