Beer and cocktails are standard at parties and discos, but also in leisure time. Children and young people are often unable to assess the consequences of excessive alcohol consumption – with health consequences.
Dresden (dpa/sn) – 915 children and adolescents were hospitalized and treated in Saxony in 2021 for alcohol intoxication. According to the health insurance company DAK Gesundheit on Tuesday, this is 7.4 percent less than in the previous year. This continues the downward trend among 10 to under 20 year olds during the corona pandemic. According to data from the Federal Statistical Office, there were already almost a quarter (22 percent) fewer cases in 2020 than in the previous year.
In view of the continued high number of cases of acute alcohol poisoning in children and adolescents in Saxony, any commitment to do something about it is still to be welcomed, said Social Affairs Minister Petra Köpping (SPD). Although the trend is positive, “every alcohol poisoning of a young person is one too many,” said Christine Enenkel, head of the DAK state in Saxony. The joint campaign “colorful instead of blue” should therefore also bring the important topic into schools in the 14th year.
DAK and the Ministry of Social Affairs assume that restrictions in the course of the corona protection measures in 2020 and 2021 played a role in the decrease in the number of cases. “Clubs and discotheques were also affected, so many opportunities for binge drinking were lost,” said a spokesman. In the long term, alcohol prevention in schools and beyond is also bearing fruit. “Drinking isn’t generally demonized, it’s more about dealing with it sensibly so that you don’t end up in the clinic.”
Among 10 to 19 year olds there were 72 fewer binge drinkers than in 2020. There were 102 fewer male children, adolescents and young adults, and 14 fewer among girls and young women 1177 in 2017 to 1231 to 1266. In 2020, according to statistics, only 774 children and young people drank themselves intoxicated.
With the “colorful instead of blue” campaign supported by the Ministry of Social Affairs, the DAK has been raising awareness in schools since 2010 about excessive alcohol consumption, which causes young people to drink to the point of dangerous intoxication within a few hours. This year, too, the best poster ideas from 12 to 17 year olds on the subject of binge drinking are being sought, not only in Bavaria.
