Beating the booze in Siberia

05 September, 2008, 06:22

Alcohol abuse is a major problem that many families facing in the Russian countryside. So, in Siberia, 19 local women have organised a Women's Council that they say is taking on each and every vodka-drinker in their village and beyond.

The council says there are almost 1,000 alcoholics on their books.

“We’ve received so many complaints about men drinking heavily. We've seen families destroyed by alcohol. So, we’ve created this council and we're working with the authorities to take action,” said Maria Khokhlova, head of the Women's Council.

They've been given local government funds to provide medical treatment for alcohol abuse.

“We're doing our best to put these men through a detox programme and give them medication which reduces the alcohol craving. But treatment is only effective if patients are willing to change their ways,” says Anna Felisova, a council doctor.

Vodka is partly to blame for Russia's rising mortality rate and its declining population.

Aleksandr Shatalov’s wife is worried that if he carries on drinking vodka, he may not live to reach 50.

“Come on, I've been drinking longer than you’ve been living. I've been drinking since I was five years old and I'm now 44,” Shatalov says.

But many men there want to kick the habit – they just need the means and encouragement to do so.

So far, the Women's Council has 60 success stories.

Aleksandr Stashkov has recently taken the treatment and he's now in remission.

“They talked to me like to a human being. They persuaded me to have treatment and a small miracle happened. Now I have no desire to drink. Life's better now, I'm looking at it through different eyes,” he said.