As drinking declines in Europe and North America, global alcohol companies are shifting their growth strategy towards emerging markets – including South Africa. Public health advocates warn that increased sales efforts could deepen alcohol-related harm just as the Treasury considers reforms aimed at reducing consumption. When Heineken’s global CEO, Dolf van den Brink, announced his…
Banda Aceh, Indonesia — Sharia police caned a couple 140 times each in Indonesia’s Aceh province on Thursday for having sex outside marriage and drinking alcohol, likely one of the severest such punishments since the deeply conservative region adopted Islamic law. Sexual relations between an unmarried couple are strictly outlawed in Aceh, the only place…
The organisation urged countries to raise and redesign taxes as part of its new 3 by 35 initiative, which aims to increase the real prices of tobacco, alcohol and sugary drinks by 2035. The World Health Organisation (WHO) has called on governments to significantly increase taxes on sugary drinks and alcohol, warning that the widespread…
Africa’s health sector is facing an unprecedented funding crisis, driven in part by a sharp decline in external health aid, which has fallen by 70% between 2021 and 2025. This shortfall is made worse by a rapidly expanding debt burden in African countries. In 2025, African countries are projected to spend about USD 81 billion…
A new study has observed that chimpanzees regularly eat fermented fruit together, suggesting that alcohol consumption is more deeply rooted in human evolution than previously thought. Chimpanzees regularly consume fermented fruit in the wild – ingesting significant amounts of alcohol in the process, according to a new studypublished by Science. Researchers led by Aleksey Maro from the…
