The government of Uganda has announced that it has concluded plans to increase the legal age for consuming alcohol from 18 to 21.
Africa Today News, New York reports that the World Health Statistics 2023 Report ranks Uganda among the leading countries for high rates of alcohol consumption.
According to the WHO report, it was estimated that Ugandans currently consume 12.2 litres of alcohol per person annually, which is significantly higher than the global average.
‘Research has shown that if someone has not taken an addictive substance by 21, they are much less likely to use addictive substances later in life,’ Dr Hafsa Lukwata, the Ministry of Health commissioner for mental health, alcohol and substance sbuse, told the reporters.
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‘There has been a public outcry over substance abuse in young people,’ Dr Lukwata added.
She said that parliament will discuss the age limit, among other measures, in the soon-to-be-presented Alcohol Control Bill.
In another report, new travel restrictions was last week slammed by the US on Ugandan officials in the wake of an anti-LGBTQ law which was signed into law by President Yoweri Museveni in May.
The law has been condemned as one of the harshest in the world. Among other provisions, it instated the death penalty for someone convicted of ‘aggravated homosexuality’, an offence that includes transmitting HIV through gay sex.
It also carried a life sentence for same-sex intercourse and a 20-year sentence for promoting homosexuality.
In a brief release on Friday, US Department of State spokesman Matthew Miller said the measures were in response to human rights abuses – ‘including those of LGBTQI+ persons – and corruption.
Homosexuality had been already illegal in the conservative and highly religious East African country, and observers said homosexuals faced ostracism and harassment by security forces.