The National Consultant for Developing the Alcohol Policy has disclose that a new policy to strengthen restrictions on alcohol availability will soon be implemented.

The National Consultant for Developing the Alcohol Policy, who also doubles as FoRUT’s Executive Director Mrs. Boi-Jeneh Jalloh said ‘the new policy will place seek to strengthen restrictions on alcohol availability especially among children, it will create opportunity to advance and enforce drink driving counter measures, facilitate access to screening and so on.

Alcohol is a legal commodity that is not adequately regulated on its production, marketing, distribution and consumption in Sierra Leone.

The drive is to collectively advocate for an evidence-based alcohol policy that controls alcohol production, marketing, distribution and consumption effectively started in 2015 when the Sierra Leone Alcohol Policy Alliance (SLAPA) was established.

According to the WHO, in 2018 more than 3 million die as a result of harmful use of alcohol, this represent 1 in 20 deaths and more than three quarter of these deaths were among men. According to the 2015 Housing and Population Census Report, 3.5% are 65 years and above; out of the 5,030,016 population 10 years and over, 3.5% took alcohol, 2.6% took both tobacco and alcohol and 83.4% took neither tobacco nor alcohol.