Prenatal alcohol exposure is among the leading causes of fetal alcohol syndrome. This disorder causes retarded growth, body and faces malfunctions as well as poorly developed cranial capacity. Given that one child in every 100 live births and ten children out of 100 live births at high risk of suffering from FAS, it is evident that this disorder requires a lot of attention. Diagnosis and treatment of FAS have been difficult and in some incidence impossible. Therefore, there is a significant need to prioritize training on prevention as the disorder is 100% preventable. Prevention programs such as universal prevention, selective prevention of maternal alcohol use and indicated prevention programs for high-risk populations should be developed to guarantee the health of the unborn child.
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) is usually considered as a less severe alcohol-related syndrome. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is a combination of retarded growth, central nervous system related disorders and body and face malfunctions. According to Hankin (2002), FAS and other less severe alcohol-related disorders occur in approximately one birth in a hundred births. In high-risk populations, the chances of FAS stand at ten per 100 live births. A great proportion of male and females believe that taking alcohol during pregnancies has little or no effect. However, this is a misconception that has caused several deaths. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, there is no an amount of alcohol that is safe during pregnancy. Alcohol affects the whole body from the brain to the body. The rate at which alcohol causes damages to the fetus is however varied with the person’s genetic makeup. If the alcohol affects the expectant mother, the fetus will be affected as well. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome can be prevented. Unfortunately, many people are unaware of the consequence of taking alcohol during pregnancies. With that said, it is essential to carry out prevention campaigns to both pregnant and non-pregnant women to reduce the rate of alcohol-exposed pregnancies.
Alcohol taken during pregnancies can cause a wide array of problems for the growing fetus. Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is among of the most severe consequences of prenatal alcohol exposure. This disorder is characterized by retarded growth, anomalies in the development of the child, and central nervous system diseases including but not limited to mental issues. FAS can be grouped into two categories including alcohol-related birth defects (ARBD) and Alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder (ARND). Alcohol-related birth defects affect several organs such as the heart, vision, kidney and vision systems. On the other hand, the alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder affects the central nervous system development and cognitive abnormalities. Moreover, further studies have shown that alcohol during pregnancies can cause internalizing disorders such as depression, low self-esteem and negative cognitions in the child. Additionally, prenatal alcohol exposure increases the chances of neurocognitive disorders leading to problems such as difficulties in impulse control, poor organizational skills, and poor decision-making capabilities. Adults who were prenatally exposed to alcohol are likely to suffer mental disorders (Gray, 2013).
Hankin (2002) argues that fetal alcohol syndrome prevention is a simple procedure. Pregnant mothers should not drink at any time during their pregnancy. Since many women are unaware of these dangers, a significant number of kids end up being exposed to this disorder. Additionally, a significant percentage of women do not know if they are pregnant until the fourth to the sixth week. Therefore, as much as some women plan never to drink during their pregnancy, find themselves already drinking as they realize their pregnancies later. Research done on women within the childbearing age revealed that alcohol use among this group is at 12 percent. This shows that drinking during pregnancies is still a significant problem. Therefore, the need for educating women both pregnant and non-pregnant is evident.
The severity of the effect of prenatal alcohol consumption depends on the age of the pregnancy. The first trimester of the pregnancy places the fetus under more dangers as during this frame, the fetus brain development will be adversely affected, and thus the offspring will have a small cranial capacity, severe mental retardation, and physical problems. Although a lot of studies have been done on fetal alcohol syndrome, there is still a missing gap especially in the diagnosis of the problem. According to Gray (2013), even when a child has visible FAS syndromes, they may not be diagnosed unless an excellent dysmorphologist attends them. Since some newborns do not have all the visible fetal alcohol syndrome, diagnosing prenatally affected children is a significant challenge. Additionally, diagnosis required some presumed history of prenatal alcohol exposure. Therefore, there is an urgent need for research to develop better tools since an effective diagnosis is the only way to help individuals who were prenatally affected by alcohol consumption.
Since diagnosis and treatment of this disorder are challenging, FAS prevention remains the only feasible way to ensure the birth of healthy offsprings. Even the smallest volume of alcohol taken during social drinking can harm the fetus. Studies by Hankin (2002) indicate that immediately after consuming alcohol, the content of alcohol in the blood of the mother and the fetus are almost at the same level. Studies in other preventable pregnancy-related diseases have shown that the greatest opportunity for eliminating the disease is through prevention. If mothers were made aware of the damage that drinking can cause to their unborn child, there are chances that they might consider quitting. The training should however not focus on pregnant women only but also to men and women within the childbearing age. Everything an expectant mother takes finds its way to the uterus. Alcohol, just like water, carbon dioxide and oxygen will finally find its way to the fetus through the placenta. The vulnerability is higher during the earlier days of pregnancies. Unfortunately, this is the time most mother unaware of their pregnancy consume alcohol and end up harming the fetus unknowingly (Gray, 2013).
Some of the training approaches that behave been found successful include universal prevention of maternal alcohol abuse through public education, selective prevention of maternal alcohol use and indicated prevention. Universal prevention includes the use of media, warning posts and use of warning labels in beverages. The selective prevention involves selecting a sample of women within the childbearing age and training them on the dangers of alcohol consumption. Lastly, indicated efforts are directed to populations with high-risk of bearing children with FAS. It is only through the use of these attempts that Fetal Alcohol Syndrome can be eliminated as diagnosis and prevention is almost impossible (Hankin, 2002).
Conclusively, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome is having devastating effects on the offspring. Diagnosis of this disease has been difficult as there are no standard symptoms of this disorder. On the other hand, since no two people with FAS are the same, treatment has been impossible. With that said, prevention remains the only way to end this disease as it is entirely preventable.