Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder in Australia: Prevalence, Effects and Recommendations

This paper seeks to address the increasing cases of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and its relation to women drinking during pregnancy. The paper discusses the background of this issue and provides recommendations which could be implemented to solve this public health issue. Children born with FASD have learning difficulties and this means that the government will have set up more special schools to cater for their education needs. Failure to solve this public health problem will also result to the children facing difficulties in their social lives. The government can overcome this problem by improving access to treatment, reducing access and consumption of health among women in the childbearing age, enacting laws requiring alcohol manufacturers to publish information on labels indicating the dangers of pregnant women using alcohol, and increasing community knowledge and awareness about the harms and effects of drinking alcohol during pregnancy.

State of Victoria
ISSUE COVER SHEET
Issue:
This paper seeks to address the increasing cases of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder and its
relation to women drinking during pregnancy. There has been increasing cases in Alcohol
use among pregnant women in Australia. Statistics indicate that the prevalence of FASD is
approximately 7% of the population of Australia. This paper, therefore, analyses the effects
of FASD and provides recommendations on actions that should be taken by the ministry to
tackle this public health concern.
Background: [write here]
FASD occurs as a result of maternal drinking, and it results to severe neurodevelopment
impairments. When a child is born with FASD,they face many social, emotional and
cognitive challenges. The first challenge is that life expectancy for a child with FASD
averages only 34 years globally(Fitzpatrick et al., 2012). FASD affects the fetus and its
effects are also evident during the early childhood of a person. Children who are born with
this disorder have a lower IQ compared to other children. These children may face challenges
in information retention and hence they may have problems when they start going to school.
This disorder also affects the social life of children because they find it difficult to socialize
as a result of this disorder. It is important to come up with strategies to reduce prevalence of
FASD.
Recommendations:
 Reduce access and consumption of health among women in the childbearing age.
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 The problem of alcohol use can also be overcome enacting laws requiring alcohol
manufacturers to publish information on labels indicating the dangers of pregnant women
using alcohol.
Name: [write here]
Date: [write here]
Readers: Minister for Health, Victorian Government
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State of Victoria
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to analyze information relating to use of alcohol among pregnant
women in Australia. The paper also identifies the prevalence of FASD and also discusses the
impact that FASD has on both an individual, family and community. This document is
therefore meant to bring to your attention the increased prevalence of FASD as a result of
increase in use of alcohol among pregnant women. The paper discusses the background of
this issue and provides recommendations which could be implemented to solve this public
health issue.
Background
Children born with FASD are slower at reflective orienting responses and they have defects
of associative learning. Associative learning is a principle of learning that states that ideas
and experiences reinforce one another and they can be linked to one another mentally. This
associated with the fact that FASD contributes to low IQ for children whose mothers tool
alcohol during their pregnancy (Bower et al., 2018). Research indicates that children
affected with FASD have an IQ which is more than two standard deviations below the
average mean of most people (Elliott, 2014). Previous researches also indicates that children
affected with FASD have verbal and non-vernal defects because their speech was very
incoherent. Children with FASD have clinically been found to have impairment in vigilance
as evidenced by their ability to perform certain tasks.
When children are exposed to alcohol during pregnancy have a learning disability. This
results from deficits in visual and spatial as well as executive functions (Fitzpatrick et al.,
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2017). Alcohol affects the development of the child`s brain and hence interfering with
reasoning abstractly as well as auditory comprehension.
Without proper reaction, the person may find themselves being hurt by various impulses such
as fire. Children who are associated with FASD also take very long to process information.
This is as a result of low IQ compared to children who have not been exposed to the use of
alcohol during pregnancy. The inability of the children to process information quickly
presents a huge social challenge to the children. They struggle to learn in school and this may
greatly affect how they are viewed by other students. As a result of this, they may be affected
psychologically and hence result to decline in their self confidence.
Children who are born with FASD have higher incidence of psychiatric, emotional and
behavioral challenges. Children with this condition have a 95% chance of suffering from
mental related complications such as anxiety, mood disorders and depression. People with
this condition are also more prevalent to substance abuse, addiction as well as suicide.
Statistics also indicates that people with this disorder have high chances of falling into trouble
with the law and unemployment.
It is important to identify the main subgroups of people who are at a high risk of drinking in
utopia. This helps in designing strategies that are focused towards assisting this group of
people to avoid FASD. The group which is mainly at a high risk of drinking at utero are
women before and during pregnancy. Women of child bearing age are at a very high risk of
drinking at utopia and hence transmitting FASD to the children who are born after this
period. National estimates indicate that women between the age of 18 and forty years face a
very high risk of drinking at utopia. For a woman of child bearing age to be considered at risk
of utopia drinking , they should be non sterile, must consume alcohol and must be having sex
with non-sterile male (Burns, Breen, Bower, O'Leary & Elliott, 2013). Research also
indicates women who have low incomes are at a higher risk than those with higher incomes.
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This is because, women with lower incomes might not be so conscious about their health as
compared to those with higher amounts of income. Additionally research has shown that
women in rural areas are at a higher risk of drinking at utero. This is because less awareness
has been created in rural areas on the dangers of using alcohol during pregnancy (McBride,
2014). More awareness has been made in urban areas and the neglect of the rural areas
therefore means that women who live in these areas are at a higher risk of drinking in utero.
Key Issues
FASD impacts greatly on the life of children who are born with this deficiency. As indicated
earlier, there has been an increase in use of alcohol for women in child bearing age. This
makes it difficult for them to stop using alcohol even when they are pregnant (Lange et al.,
2017). Failure to take action therefore means that it will reach a time when a very large
proportion of children in Australia will be having FASD syndrome. The children will have
learning difficulties and this means that the government will have set up more special schools
to cater for their education needs.. Failure to solve this public health problem will also result
to the children facing difficulties in their social lives. This is because evidence has shown that
children born with FASD encounter many social problems which greatly affects their lives
negatively. There is a high risk that the children who are born with the disorder continue
suffering if this issue is not addressed promptly. Increased abuse of alcohol among pregnant
women also means that the community and the families will have to bear the burden of taking
care of children born with disability(Astley, 2014). The community will bear this burden
both financially and also the time consumed in caring for the people born with this disability.
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Additionally, this disorder will lead to increased pressure in healthcare resources in the
country in the bid to care for this group of people.
Recommendations
 Reduce access and consumption of health among women in the childbearing age.
Government should make it illegal to sell alcohol to pregnant women. This will help to
ensure that pregnant women are not able to access alcohol easily and hence will go a
long way in reducing the number of women who take alcohol when they are pregnant
(Mutch, Watkins & Bower, 2015). The government can also reduce alcohol use by
limiting opening hours for liquor selling shops and bars.
 The problem of alcohol use can also be overcome enacting laws requiring alcohol
manufacturers to publish information on labels indicating the dangers of pregnant women
using alcohol. This move will play a great role since women will be aware of the danger
they are exposing their children to when they abuse alcohol.
 Use of alcohol among pregnant women can be overcome by increasing community
knowledge and awareness about the harms and effects of drinking alcohol during
pregnancy. The ministry should develop, implement and evaluate campaigns that are
aimed towards sensitizing the target groups on the dangers of using using alcohol during
pregnancy (Watkins et al., 2013). This campaigns should target vulnerable groups such
as women in rural areas.
 The government can also overcome this problem by improving access to treatment.
Screening and diagnosis of FASD should be made more affordable and should also be
available in many healthcare centers (Tsang & Elliott, 2017). This will play a significant
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role in managing the negative effects that FASD could have on the future lives of the
children.
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References
Astley, S. J. (2014). Invited commentary on Australian fetal alcohol spectrum disorder
diagnostic guidelines. BMC pediatrics, 14(1), 85.
Burns, L., Breen, C., Bower, C., O'Leary, C., & Elliott, E. J. (2013). Counting Fetal Alcohol
Spectrum Disorder in A ustralia: The evidence and the challenges. Drug and alcohol
review, 32(5), 461-467.
Bower, C., Watkins, R. E., Mutch, R. C., Marriott, R., Freeman, J., Kippin, N. R., ... &
Tarratt, L. (2018). Fetal alcohol spectrum disorder and youth justice: a prevalence study
among young people sentenced to detention in Western Australia. BMJ open, 8(2),
e019605.
Elliott, E. J. (2014). Australia plays ‘catch-up’with fetal alcohol spectrum disorders. The
International Journal of Alcohol and Drug Research, 3(1), 121-125.
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(2012). The Lililwan Project: study protocol for a population-based active case
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Fitzpatrick, E. (2017). Prevalence and profile of neurodevelopment and fetal alcohol
spectrum disorder (FASD) amongst Australian Aboriginal children living in remote
communities. Research in developmental disabilities, 65, 114-126.
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Lange, S., Probst, C., Gmel, G., Rehm, J., Burd, L., & Popova, S. (2017). Global prevalence
of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder among children and youth: a systematic review and
meta-analysis. JAMA pediatrics, 171(10), 948-956.
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Tsang, T. W., & Elliott, E. J. (2017). High global prevalence of alcohol use during pregnancy
and fetal alcohol syndrome indicates need for urgent action. The Lancet Global Health,
5(3), e232-e233.
Watkins, R. E., Elliott, E. J., Wilkins, A., Mutch, R. C., Fitzpatrick, J. P., Payne, J. M., ... &
Halliday, J. (2013). Recommendations from a consensus development workshop on the
diagnosis of fetal alcohol spectrum disorders in Australia. BMC pediatrics, 13(1), 156.
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