Drinkaware, the national charity working to prevent and reduce alcohol misuse in Ireland, is today reporting a significant rise in people seeking practical supports to cut down or cut out alcohol in 2020. 14,247 individual orders were placed via www.drinkaware.ie for evidence-informed health promotion resources, including the measure cup, to reduce home drinking, compared to 4,342 in 2019.
In 2020, 552,194 people visited Drinkaware’s website to access evidence-informed tools and resources on the impact of alcohol and tips to cut down or cut out alcohol to protect physical and mental health.
Notably, visitors to the website last month spent the most time viewing tips-related pages including mental health (average 4.53 mins) and benefits of cutting down or cutting out alcohol (average 2.22 mins).
The call comes as the latest round of measures from the Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018 take effect. From today (11th Jan 2021) alcohol sales will be excluded from supermarket voucher schemes, and multi-buy deals and loyalty points on alcohol sales will be banned. Drinkaware welcomes the new measures and also supported the previously introduced separation of alcohol products and advertising restriction measures.
Drinkaware CEO, Sheena Horgan, commented: “The new PHAA measures have the potential to change alcohol purchasing and therefore consumption habits, reducing the temptation to bulk buy and make frequent purchases. We know that at-home drinking during the pandemic, and in particular drinking to cope, has increased. But we can also see that people are acknowledging this and proactively looking to change their potentially harmful behaviour.
Our December website traffic clearly shows that people recognise the value of understanding their drinking habits, and its impact. And the specific and growing interest in our tips, the measure cup and calculator, shows a shift in people’s awareness and genuine desire to cut down or cut out alcohol.
As the consistently most trusted source of alcohol information in Ireland cited by the public1 Drinkaware will continue to be the champion for this positive trend, and will engage and support even more people in 2021 to bring the Irish public along this journey towards a healthier society for all.”
1 Drinkaware Barometer, Behaviour & Attitudes, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017