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Too many children in Greater Manchester are born with health problems that could have been avoided if their mothers had not drunk alcohol while pregnant.
To stop children being affected and challenge misconceptions about drinking when pregnant we’ve invested £1.6m in a new pilot programme, that is now running in four areas of the city-region (Bury, Rochdale, Tameside and Oldham).
The programme will provide guidance and support to women when they are planning to conceive, while pregnant and after giving birth.
Launched on Friday 17 May, the programme will highlight the advice from the Chief Medical Officer for England that pregnant women, or those planning to become pregnant, avoid drinking any alcohol at all.
Unborn children who are exposed to alcohol can face a host of problems. These include damage to their heart, kidneys and bones, learning difficulties, and symptoms similar to autism and attention deficit disorder. Where caused by alcohol, all of these are preventable.
The programme will also highlight Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and the impact it has on children. FASD is a range of lifelong disabilities which includes physical, mental, behavioural and learning impairments. It often causes difficulties with speech, language, memory, attention, planning and decision-making.
Look out for the social media campaign running alongside the new services. It calls on would-be parents and the people close to them to go alcohol-free throughout their pregnancy, and ‘make every trimester a #drymester’.
You can learn more about the wide-reaching ambitions of this programme and how we hope to improve the life chances of the city-region's youngest residents in a blog by our chief officer Jon Rouse.
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