It is the leading cause of non-genetic mental handicap and children’s social maladjustment in France. Fetal alcohol syndrome, still little known, is at the center of a national prevention campaign launched by Public Health France. From September 9, World Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Day, and for a month, the message conveyed by the national agency is clear: “zero alcohol during pregnancy” policy.
Because alcohol consumption during gestation is a factor of many risks for the health of the future child: growth retardation, damage to the central nervous system, malformations … Fetal alcohol syndrome is the most serious form. To alert women of childbearing age, Public Health France relies on figures from a new survey on the subject.
One child per day concerned
“Between 2006 and 2013 in France, 3,207 newborns (i.e. one birth per day) presented at least one consequence linked to fetal alcohol consumption, including 452 of them (i.e. one birth per week) fetal alcoholism (FAS) ‘, thus indicates Public Health France in its report. The national agency specifies that these are underestimated figures, due to the difficulty of diagnosing these disorders at the beginning of the child’s life – they were measured during the first month of the newborn’s life – not. Furthermore, subsequent diagnoses are not included in the statistics.
A minority behavior, but frequent
However, alcohol consumption during pregnancy is not uncommon in France. the 2017 barometer on alcohol and tobacco consumption during pregnancy also published by Public Health France confirms this. 1,614 mothers of children five and under and 186 pregnant women were interviewed in 2017 for the survey. One in ten women said they used alcohol occasionally during their pregnancy. This is less than in 2010, when it was two in ten women.
However, only six in ten women report having been informed of the consequences of prenatal exposure to alcohol and tobacco by a doctor or midwife during their pregnancy. A number that Public Health France will try to increase through its campaign. “Because today no one can say that a single drink is safe for the baby: as a precaution, zero alcohol during pregnancy”, she recalls.
Read all about pregnancy and alcohol here.
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