09:24, 21 октября 2021, Bishkek - 24.kg news agency , Maria ORLOVA
An Anti-Alcohol Program has started in Kyrgyzstan. The Republican Narcology Center under the Ministry of Health of Kyrgyzstan reported.
Anara Tostokova, head of the Organizational and Methodological Department of the Center, noted that the consumption and misuse of alcohol is the most important social problem and the problem of maintaining the health of the nation. «It increases mortality and makes a colossal contribution to the degradation of the social environment in society, increasing crime, domestic violence and number of divorces. World experience shows that this problem can be solved only through serious and systematic interaction of state and public structures to form a culture of health and social values of a sober and healthy lifestyle,» she said.
Alina Altymysheva, National Coordinator for Noncommunicable Diseases of the WHO Country Office in Kyrgyzstan, added that many people believe that alcohol consumption can have a positive effect in the fight against COVID-19. «But it’s not like that. Excessive alcohol consumption is fraught with many side effects and many undesirable consequences. For the first time, the «audit» tool will be introduced at the primary level — a series of questions that helps to determine the degree of dependence at the outpatient level. It has been introduced at the Republican Narcology Center, but people with strong alcohol addiction come there. Many people already have this disease and are not diagnosed at the primary level, therefore, the training of doctors at the primary level is important. The Ministry of Health, together with the Center, is promoting this work, and the Public Health Center in Kemin district was chosen as a start, which was actively supported by the medical workers themselves,» she said.
According to statistics, about 35,000 people with alcohol addiction are officially registered in Kyrgyzstan, 88 percent of them are men. According to the WHO, every 6th man in the world dies from diseases caused by unhealthy alcohol use.