Women drinking to harm their unborn babies

Fears are growing in South Africa over the number of pregnant woman drinking to harm their unborn babies.

A woman drinks the highly addictive alcohol kah-kah. Picture: Sky News Source: news.com.au

PREGNANT women in one of South Africa's poorest areas are drinking heavily to deliberately harm their unborn babies in order to claim higher welfare payments.

There has been a spike in the number of babies born with disabilities in the country's Eastern Cape, where crime and unemployment are widespread and newborn babies represent a form of income for mothers.

Sky News reports that impoverished families receive 250 South African rand ($28) per child per month, but the state's disability allowance is far more "lucrative" at 1200 rand a month ($134).

Women who drink heavily during their pregnancy run a much greater risk of giving birth to children with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).

Children with this condition are born with characteristic physical and mental defects, including short stature, and small head and brain, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

WHO reports South Africa has had the highest number of FASD cases in the world since 2002.

There is no cure for FASD and treatment is focused on mental health and medical services to manage the resulting lifelong disabilities that include learning difficulties, behavioural problems, language, delayed social or motor skills, impaired memory and attention deficits.

The Eastern Cape Liquor Board has launched an awareness campaign in an attempt to teach young women about the consequences of drinking heavily whilst pregnant.

A major problem is the prevalence of illegal drinking houses called shebeens, where homemade, highly addictive and damaging alcohol called kah-kah is sold.

Kah-kah is a milky brown liquid and while its exact ingredients are unknown police have found batches made from yeast, water and battery acid.

"If I don't drink this, I'm like someone who is sick," one mother told Sky News, swigging from a transparent bottle containing kah-kah. "I can't sleep, and I can't think straight but when I have this then I am better and I can do anything."

She said she drank about "five or six bottles a day" and that this started from "about nine o'clock" in the morning.

While police frequently raid shebeens and shut them down, new shebeens open up just as quickly.

"[Kah-kah is] cheap to produce and this represents an income to these people," Colonel Abdoerahgmaan Humphries told Sky News.

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