East African Journal of Public Health East African Public Health Association ISSN: 0856-8960 Vol. 4, Num. 2, 2007, pp. 64-66

East African Journal of Public Heath, Vol. 4, No. 2, October 2007, pp. 64-66

PREVALENCE OF AND FACTORS ASSOCATED WITH ALCOHOL CONSUMPTION IN TEMEKE IN AUGUST/SEPTEMBER, 2002.

Hassan Chande & Ibrahim Salum

Correspondence to: Dr. H. Chande, P.O BOX  65000, Dar es Salaam. E-Mail:hchande@muchs.ac.tz

Department of Histopathology, Muhimbili University of Health & Allied Sciences, P.O.  BOX 65002, Dar es Salaam.

Received 13 April 2007; revised 15 July 2007; accepted for publication 24 July 2007

Code Number: lp07014

Abstract.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of alcohol consumption in Temeke district by social demographic characteristics.
Methodology: Population-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Temeke district involving persons above 15 years of age.  We selected Keko ward for the study and simple random sampling procedure was used to select clusters of ten-cell leaders.  All households in the selected ten-cell leaders were included in the study sample. The study was cleared by the Ethical Clearance Committee of the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar es Salaam. Chi-squared (χ²) test for contingency tables was used to assess statistical significance and the results were considered significant if p-value was less than 0.5.
Results: A total of 246 persons participated in the survey and of these 22% (54) were alcohol drinkers. The age group 25-35 years showed a high prevalence with a male preponderance. There was no difference in the drinking pattern between single and married subjects with 20.1%  and 22% respectively. On education basis, 22.1% of primary school leavers drank alcohol. Teachers and businessmen drank alcohol more than other occupational groups with 33.3% and 25.6% respectively. Bad health effect was the most perceived alcohol related problem occurring in 65.4% of all the respondents.
Conclusion: It was concluded that alcohol consumption was low in Temeke as compared to other regions and was seen more in males than females and bad health effect was the most perceived problem resulting from alcohol consumption. We recommend that similar studies should be done in other districts of Dar-es-Salaam to validate our findings.

Key words: Alcohol consumption, Temeke, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Introduction

There is considerable variation from one society to another in habit patterns of drinking and patterns may differ in terms of frequency of drinking, choice of beverage, amount consumed and the context of drinking as well as the location, social settings and the occasion of drinking (1). In some societies there is a general pattern of daily drinking of non-distilled alcoholic beverage with or without meals in a family setting. In other societies, a distinctive pattern is seen of frequent drinking of distilled beverages or other types of preferred alcoholic drinks usually outside the home. Another pattern is infrequent communally drinking on special occasions when large quantities of beverages locally brewed or specially brought and collected for that occasion are consumed. Habits of abstinence or near abstinence may be observed in specific ethnic or religious groups.  Indigenous alcoholic beverages, particularly palm wine and local beers were in use throughout Africa before the advent of Europeans (2). The extent of which this use has made deleterious effects on the health of African people is difficult to estimate. Anthropologists reported that in Equatorial Africa palm wine was the only indigenous beverage of any importance and represented no greater danger but others reported that in spite of controlled tribal drinking, excessive alcoholic consumption was known before Europeans came to Africa (3).

It is alleged that some African tribes such as Ashanti of West Africa made spirits and strong liquor by distillation but the use of strong alcoholic drinks spread in African countries during the time of slave trade and colonialism. Long colonial domination resulted in profound social cultural changes in the African way of life including the consumption of the liquor to prohibited strong alcoholic drinks(4,5,6).

The undesirable consequences of drinking alcohol were noted early in Tanzania when it became politically independent in 1961. Already in 1965 the use of spirits at government sponsored ceremonial parties were banned by order of the president after several incidences of instant deaths following excessive ingestion of alcohol (7). The objective of the present study was to determine the prevalence and factors associated with alcohol consumption in Temeke District.

Methodology:

Study design

Population-based cross-sectional study

Study area

The area of the study was Temeke district

Study population

All people males and females aged 15 and above. Exclusion criteria for entry the study were age below 15 and unwillingness to participate

Sampling technique

Keko ward was selected conveniently and ten-cell leaders were selected by random sampling method. From each ten-cell leader selected a house to house survey was done and all eligible individuals were included consecutively till the sample size of 246 was attained. Swahili version of the questionnaire was administered by the author.

Ethical Consideration

Ethical clearance was sought from the Department of Community Health (MUHAS). Permission for doing the study was also obtained from District Executive Officer of Temeke and from the leaders of the divisions, wards and ten- cell leaders. A verbal informed consent for participation in the study was obtained from each respondent individually.

Data analysis

After field work the questionnaires were arranged and assigned serial numbers. The responses were coded. The data were entered into the data master sheet. Finally data analysis was done using dummy tables. The Chi-squared test was used to evaluate the statistical difference between groups.

Results

Table 1: The proportion of people who drink alcohol by age.

Out of 246 subjects only 54 (22.0%) were alcohol drinkers. The age group 25-34 years (30.0%) showed a high prevalence.

Table 2: The proportion of people who drink alcohol by sex.

A great proportion of males are alcohol drinkers (27.5%) as compared to the females (15.7%).

Table 3: The proportion of people who drink alcohol by marital status.

There is no difference in the drinking pattern between single 20.7% (n= 25) and the married 22.0% (n=23) individuals.

Table 4 The proportion of people who drink alcohol by level of education.

Alcohol drinking habit is commoner among those who attained primary and secondary education with 22.1% (33) and 19 5% (15) of the respondents respectively.

Table 5 The proportion of people who drink alcohol by occupation.

A high proportion of teachers were alcohol drinkers (33.3%) followed by businessmen (25.6%).

Table 6. Frequency distribution of types of alcohol related problems as perceived by respondents in Temeke.

Bad health effect was the most reported alcohol related problem (65.4%).

Discussion

In many African countries, alcohol consumption resulting in alcohol related problems such as accidents, fights, crime and diseases became so conspicuous that members of the medical profession began producing scientific papers about alcohol consumption and its associated problems many years ago (8). Nonetheless little is known about alcohol consumption pattern and its associated problems among Africans because few epidemiological studies have been attempted and in most cases they were institutional or hospital based (4). In order to know about alcohol consumption pattern and its associated problems we need to know the proportion of people who drink alcohol in the community and its associated factors (9).

This study indicates that in Temeke district the prevalence of alcohol consumption is 22%. The findings of this study contrast greatly with other studies for example that done by Singano in Dodoma where over half (58%) of 384 respondents were alcohol drinkers (10). Another study done in Ludewa (11) showed that 85% of the 285 respondents were alcohol drinkers. Also in a paper on alcohol use in a Nigerian rural community it was found that out of 198 respondents 60% (130) were alcohol drinkers (12). This difference is probably attributable to the difference in geographical locations of the study areas, social and cultural factors in the sense that the previous studies were done in selected rural communities where the probability of many people having the same social and cultural values is greater compared to the urban areas like Temeke district. For instance in Ludewa people start drinking local brew (locally known as ulanzi) during childhood (11).

This study has found out that a high proportion of individuals aged below 45 years were alcohol drinkers. These results suggest that the probability of drinking alcohol in Temeke district is high. This is probably because of the fact that most of them have the capability to buy alcohol. However the findings showed that drinking habit was influenced by age in the sense that 30% of individuals aged 24 - 35 years were alcohol drinkers. The findings did not reflect the true situation in the community. This is probably attributable to information bias or under presentation.

As assumed, this study indicates that a male is more likely to drink alcohol than a female with 27.5% and 15.7% respectively. This is probably due to the fact that in most households males are the main bread earners and hence most of them afford to by alcohol. These findings are consistent with those of Rijken et al (13) who reported that in four villages studied in Mwanza, 55% of men and 33% of women had consumed alcohol at least once during the year prior to the interview (13).

From this study it is shown that there is no difference in drinking habits between married and single individuals with 22% and 20.7% respectively.

With regard to the level of education the results indicate that most of the educated people who attained at least a college level were alcohol drinkers as compared to other population groups. These findings are consistent with those of Singano. In this study most educated middle aged males frequently used alcohol beverages than other population groups. This is most likely due to the fact that most of these drinks are advertised in the radio, TV, Internet and in newspapers and because the educated individuals use these methods of communication more frequently they indirectly influence alcohol drinking. It was found out that teachers and businessmen were more likely to drink alcohol than others.

In this study it was also found out that alcohol drinking would be inhibited if the production of alcohol is reduced or stopped and by provision of health education. It was also noted that alcohol was found to have bad health effect. These findings are consistent with observations reported from Uganda where 13% of all admission to the mental hospital in Kampala were due to acute mental disorders because of alcohol drinking.

Conclusion

It is justifiable to conclude from these findings that the prevalence of alcohol consumption in Temeke is low compared Ludewa, Dodoma and Nigeria.

It can further be concluded that alcohol consumption is influenced by sex, marital status and those who have attained primary or secondary education.

Lastly it is also justifiable to conclude from these findings that bad health effect is the leading perceived problem resulting from alcohol consumption in Temeke.

Recommendations

1. It is recommended that similar studies should be done in other districts in Dar es Salaam city for validation of these findings.       
2. It is recommended that alcohol production should be reduced or if possible stopped to serve health status of the people in the community.
3.  All alcohol containers should be labelled with all the hazards of alcohol.

References

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