Hon Helen Morton MLC — New alcohol and health campaign

A new State-wide health campaign starting today looks at the impact alcohol can have on the body’s organs.

Mental Health Minister Helen Morton pledged her continued support for these important public health campaigns in the face of increasing alcohol related harm.

“With almost one in four West Australians drinking at levels that place them at risk of alcohol related harm in their lifetime, this is a message we all need to hear,” Mrs Morton said.

“People generally know about alcohol and liver disease, but we also need to know about the other long term harm that alcohol can cause including stroke, heart disease and cancer.

“In 2011, we saw two people a week admitted to hospital for alcohol-related stroke in WA, and 532 people a year hospitalised for alcohol related liver cirrhosis, with 59 people dying.

“To give us some perspective, in 2012, the number of alcohol-caused hospitalisations equated to one person being admitted every 28 minutes for the entire year. By reducing the amount we drink, more than 87,000 bed-days could have been available in that year for other uses.

“The health experts featured in this campaign are offering West Australians another healthy dose of the facts about alcohol, and reminding people that to reduce the risk of serious long term harms, they should drink no more than two standard drinks on any day.”

As part of this latest campaign, the ‘Alcohol. Think Again’ website has been redeveloped to be more user-friendly, and to help inform people about alcohol and their health. The new website includes a Risk Assessment and a Standard Drinks tool, which helps people to calculate the health risk associated with their drinking.

“Being aware of how much you are drinking and the associated health risks will hopefully encourage some people to think again about the way they are drinking, and the harm it might cause, as well as how to stay at low risk of alcohol-caused disease in the long term,” the Minister said.