{"id":107134,"date":"2025-12-16T14:56:25","date_gmt":"2025-12-16T14:56:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=107134"},"modified":"2025-12-16T14:56:25","modified_gmt":"2025-12-16T14:56:25","slug":"vast-ghana-demands-immediate-ban-on-alcohol-industry-sponsorship-of-school-events","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sotnews.agency\/?p=107134","title":{"rendered":"VAST Ghana demands immediate ban on alcohol industry sponsorship of school events"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \t<\/i> Read Time:<\/span>2 Minute, 58 Second <\/div>\n\n <\/div>
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The Vision for Accelerated Sustainable Development, Ghana (VAST Ghana), a prominent Non-Governmental Organisation (NGO), is raising a major public health alarm over the \u201cinfiltration\u201d of alcohol industry-sponsored programmes into Ghanaian schools and is calling for an immediate government ban on all such activities.<\/p>\n

VAST Ghana argues that these initiatives, often masked as corporate social responsibility (CSR) or awareness campaigns, violate existing public health guidelines, exploit young people for profit, and risk normalising alcohol consumption among vulnerable youth.<\/p>\n

The NGO has explicitly called on four key state agencies\u2014the Ministry of Health (MoH), the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA), the Ghana Education Service (GES), and the Ghana Health Service (GHS)\u2014to intervene decisively and prohibit the alcohol industry\u2019s involvement in school-based education and campaigns.<\/p>\n

The organisation highlighted two recent examples to illustrate the urgency of the issue in a statement on Sunday, December 14,<\/p>\n

Statistics Point to a Youth Drinking Crisis<\/strong><\/p>\n

VAST Ghana stressed that alcohol use constitutes a severe public health crisis in Ghana, contributing to premature deaths, mental health conditions, and social issues like domestic violence. <\/p>\n

The organization presented alarming statistics from the Ghana STEPS Survey 2023:<\/p>\n