SAN SALVADOR, Nov 18 (NNN-PRENSA LATINA) — El Salvador observes the World Day without Alcohol with estimates of about a thousand deaths in 2022 due to alcoholism, according to official sources.
A report by the Solidarity Fund for Health (Fosalud) indicated that this organization is engaged in the development of actions to prevent and treat people who consume this substance.
Ileana Marroquín, psychiatrist of the Center for Prevention and Treatment of Addictions (CPTA) of Fosalud said that data from the Center for Information and Toxicological Counseling indicate that there is a rate of 139 new cases of alcoholism per 100,000 inhabitants.
The prevalence of these cases is 258 per 100,000 inhabitants, data that Marroquín described as alarming due to the havoc that the consumption of alcoholic beverages causes in the population.
Statistics from the World Health Organization state that alcohol consumption in the Americas is approximately 40% higher than the world average, and its effects are associated with more than 200 conditions such as: non-communicable diseases, mental disorders, injuries and HIV, as well as domestic violence, among others.
The figures amount in the country only take into account those cases that are registered as alcoholics, not the large percentage that do not register their condition in the health areas.
Dr. Marroquín stated that the country is facing an epidemic of alcoholism.
The mortality rate of patients, she said, is 8.9 per 100,000 inhabitants, and there is always under reportings, because these are the people registered. — NNN-PRENSA LATINA
