Prevention of FASD in Luxembourg – a status report

According to the latest WHO report, Europe is the largest consumer of alcohol in the world. As showed by Slade et al. (2016), the gender gap in consumption behavior between men and women is narrowing and that women are drinking increasingly alcohol. 

Despite warnings and the general instruction "No alcohol during pregnancy", a quarter of pregnant women in Europe continue to consume alcohol (Popova et al., 2017) and therefore run the risk of their child developing the fetal alcohol spectrum disorder, or FASD for short. 

FASD is the most common cause of non-inherited physical, mental and/or emotional disability in Europe: 19.8 out of 1000 newborns in Europe suffer from FASD, while the global average is 7.7 out of 1000 (Jacobsen et al., 2022). The most severe form of fetal alcohol spectrum disorder is the "fetal alcohol syndrome", discovered by F. Lemoine in 1968. 

Since the extent of FASD is not necessarily related to how much alcohol the mother has consumed during pregnancy, but also to other factors as the genetics of the child and the expectant mother, it is important to note that even a glass of alcohol can have negative consequences for the unborn child (Universiteit van Nederland, 2022).

The Grand Duchy of Luxembourg has no statistics on the prevalence of children affected by FASD, as tracking is almost non-existent. Based on European figures, Luxembourg could have as much as 120 babies born with FASD annually.

Knowing that even a small amount of alcohol can have harmful effects on the unborn child and knowing, as Dumas (2018) shows, that occasional alcohol consumption during pregnancy is considered acceptable by women, the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg still has a lot of work to do. 

For this reason, more focus has been directed towards prevention campaigns of FASD:

- Posters signaling that even a small amount of alcohol is a risk for the unborn baby

- Organization of a major conference with experts in the field

- Raising awareness via media and press

- Raising awareness in schools with specific workshops

- Charter for prevention 

In conclusion, it should be noted that even wealthy countries such as Luxembourg are not doing enough to address this health issue. Luxembourg has no structures for children with FASD, no diagnostic centers and no specific support programs. To date, the Luxembourgish Ministry of Health has only spent money on prevention in 2013 and 2022. The continuation of the last campaign is only possible because of the funding by independent, non-government organizations.