These are official and worrying figures: alcoholism in Cuba has increased. According to the latest National Health Survey, carried out between 2018 and 2020, the results of which were released this Thursday by the Minister of Public Health, José Ángel Portal Miranda, 73% of those asked admitted having consumed alcoholic beverages in the previous 30 days. . In the 2010 survey, they were 67%.
“Unfortunately, it can also be seen that 68% started consuming alcohol between the ages of 10 and 19,” said Portal Miranda. in his speechcollected by Cubadebate.
In 2005, a resolution published in the Official Gazette prohibited the sale of alcoholic beverages and beers to minors under 16 years of age. The alarms went off after verifying that the age to start drinking had not stopped falling on the island. In Cuba, the average age of starting alcohol consumption is 15 years.
The latest National Health Survey interviewed 15,893 Cubans, 14,339 adults and 1,554 children, residing in 41 municipalities
The latest National Health Survey interviewed 15,893 Cubans, 14,339 adults and 1,554 children, residing in 41 municipalities. According to official numbers, between 7% and 10% of the population has alcoholism problems, although the rates can skyrocket due to undiagnosed cases, especially in regions of the country where recreational offers are scarce.
The problem has been aggravated in recent times of extreme crisis, in which drink addicts have even resorted to medical alcohol stolen from the pharmacy network. During the lockdowns due to the covid-19 pandemic, the practice of making homemade drinks – tiger bone, mofuco, warfarin, train spark or hammock champagne, according to their many popular names – was accentuated.
The report on the National Health Survey also collected data on smoking, which is one of the risk factors on the list of pathologies. “Currently, we have the second highest rate of smoking in the region of the Americas, only preceded by Chile,” according to Portal Miranda, although he previously said that the prevalence decreased to 21.6%, compared to 24% ten years ago.
The Cuban Ministry of Health attributes 22% of deaths from ischemic heart disease and 16% of deaths from cerebrovascular accidents to tobacco use. This affects, in addition, “in 75% of deaths from lung cancer and 55% of deaths from chronic respiratory diseases,” indicates the publication of the official newspaper.
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