Ghanaians enjoy drinking as it depicts merry making, togetherness, friendship and so on. You will often see friends hangout after work chilling with alcoholic drinks, families weekend gatherings, individual taking meals with alcohol to boost their taste etc. In fact, alcohol is a widely used social drug for entertainment among 90% of Ghanaian youth. Like all drugs as marijuana , weed, tramadol and others, alcohol can damage the body, especially when consumed highly on daily bases. The effect of alcohol may be short term or long term but either ways, there is an effect which isnt good for the human body. Even small amounts of alcohol is still linked to the development of certain diseases, including numerous cancers, liver disease which over time significantly affect the physical and mental health and quality of life of an individual. How much harm alcohol causes your body depends on how much you drink, your duration of drinking, and even the quality of the alcohol you drink. Your body size and composition, age, drinking experience, genetics, nutritional status, metabolism, and social factors all play a part as well.
As part of the advertising and society course for the level 400 students of GIJ, my group and i “We care foundation” are working on educating and sentitizing GIJ student on the health effect of alcohol intake. We counter an ad on the Royal Salute Whisky brand of alcohol where they portrayed alcohol intake with elegance and royalty with their tagline “Create your kingdom “Our counter advert will emphasize on what advertisers and manufacturers of the Royal salute Whisky brand don’t make us see when it comes to alcohol intake hence the theme “Create your kingdom, Your Kingdom shouldn’t be the Grave” where we will portray damaged organs of the body while a character consumed a glass of alcohol. The effect of alcohol on the body may seem long term in many cases but as the saying goes “Little drop of water makes an ocean” therefore we want our target to be informed, reminded, educated that since “Rome isn’t built in a day” damaging their health is also a gradual process. It is better to build your kingdom on strength.
Individuals espercially youth experience personal and psychosocial issues such as depression and other psychological diseases which lead to excessive drinking of alcohol. They see this habit as a “A sip for Grieve ” rather “A Sip to Grave
In an interview with Aba a level 100 journalism student of GIJ, alcohol consumption caused the death of her 35 years old uncle who died as a result of liver problem due to excessive intake of alcohol. According to her, the deceased uncle due to depression had to find comfort in drinking to whale away his worries little did they know the sip for grief was a sip for grave.
The alcoholic liver disease covers a spectrum of disorders beginning from the fatty liver, progressing over time to alcoholic hepatitis and upgrades in alcoholic cirrhosis, which is the most advanced and irreversible form of liver injury related to the consumption of alcohol. Alcohol consumption causes death and disability among the youth between the age group of 20–39 years approximately 13.5 % of the total deaths are attributed to alcohol. More than 200 diseases and injuries, some cancers, cardiovascular diseases, as well as injuries resulting from violence and road clashes and accidents are all as a result of Alcohol.
As said by David Cook ” Alcoholism is a well documented pathological reaction to unresolved grief”. Your sip for Grieve shouldn’t be a sip to Grave.
BACS21520
BELINDA DZOTEPEH.
BACS21520
BELINDA DZOTEPEH.
wecarefoundation 