Alcohol, Policy and Politics in Kazakhstan

Abstract

Alcohol consumption in post-communist Kazakhstan remains at high levels and episodic heavy drinking, characteristic of the spirits-drinking regions of the former USSR, is still the national drinking style. Reported levels of alcohol-related harm are rising but assessment of trends in levels of consumption and harm is hindered by the disruption to data collection in the post-independence period and the continuing poor availability of public information. There is evidence however that changes in the republic's ethnic profile are connected with a downward trend in overall consumption rates, though changes in lifestyles may be leading to more drinking amongst women and young people. The numbers undergoing treatment for alcohol problems are greater than ever before. Alcohol problems are still perceived as entrenched and non-urgent, but in the present climate of greater stability and prosperity they are beginning to attract more attention from government. Underlying policy trends will depend on the overall direction of Kazakhstan's political and cultural development. This article assesses drinking patterns and related problems in Kazakhstan, and examines government responses and policies. The article is based on documentary research, visits to organisations and interviews.

Notes

¹The visits and interviews took place in Almaty between 2002 and 2004 and were in most cases facilitated by our partners, the Kazakhstan National Healthy Lifestyles Centre (NCHL), as part of a three-year joint project to examine the development of alcohol policy in Kazakhstan, which was funded by the British Academy. The authors are grateful to Professor T. Germanyuk and Dr L. Tanasheva, both of the NCHL for their help, and to staff at the British Council and the Soros Foundation for assistance in helping to organise some of the interviews.

²‘Levels of Consumption’, Belarus, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Moldova, Russian Federation, Ukraine, GAD, WHO, available at: http://www.who.int, accessed 20 March 2007; ‘Pure Alcohol Consumption, Litres per Capita. Kazakhstan’, Health For All Database, WHO, 2005, available at: www.data.euro.who.int/hfadb, accessed 9 December 2005.

³There must be some doubt about the accuracy of the data. Regional percentages for the drinking population are said to vary from 59.6% to 81.7%, a range which is incompatible with an average of 55%. Similarly, the figure for the number of drinkers in the southern region of Kazakhstan (over 80%) does not tally with the rates of abstention that are cited: 39.6% of the population in the urban areas and 48.1% in the countryside (Osnovnye 2000, pp. 17, 53).

⁴Authors' interviews with NCHL staff, Almaty, May 2003.

⁵Sh. E. Dzhamanbalaeva is an exception, citing the ‘current archive’ of the Ministry of Health as the source of data used in her article (1998, p. 44).

⁶It is clear from WHO sources that the figures cited above for Russia, France and Germany, but not Kazakhstan, are in pure alcohol, and that the figure for Russia is for legally produced alcohol only (see ‘Levels of Consumption’, for details see fn 2). The figure for Russia is lower than the lowest Goskomstat figures for the post-independence period (Nemtsov 2003, p. 1414).

⁷‘Pure Alcohol Consumption, Litres per Capita. Kazakhstan’, Health For All Database, WHO, 2005, available at: www.data.euro.who.int/hfadb, accessed 9 December 2005.

⁸See ‘Levels of Consumption’ (for details see fn 2).

⁹See ‘Levels of Consumption’ (for details see fn 2).

¹⁰See also ‘Levels of Consumption’ (for details see fn 2).

¹¹‘Levels of Consumption’ (for details see fn 2).

¹²In Kyrgystan, another Muslim country which has seen an exodus of Russians over the last decade, consumption levels have fallen from 7.1 litres in the early 1980s to 5.6 in 2003 (‘Levels of Consumption’, for details see fn 2).

¹³‘Levels of Consumption’ (see fn 2).

¹⁴Authors' interviews with NCHL staff and Ministry of Health Representatives, Almaty, September 2002 and June 2003. GAD data for Kazakhstan give a similar picture: spirits are estimated to have constituted over 85% of recorded consumption in 1992 and 1993 (‘Levels of Consumption’, see fn 2).

¹⁵Kh. Shalabaev, ‘Osobennosti natsional'nogo pivovareniya’, 28 June 2004, available at: http://www.mizinov.net, accessed 5 April 2006.

¹⁶The definition of a heavy drinking situation in this survey was the consumption at a single session of more than two litres of beer, 750 ml of wine or 200 g of vodka or strong spirits.

¹⁷Unpublished press release, ‘Reshenie kruglogo stola: ‘zhenskii alkogolizm: situatsiya, problemy, puti resheniya’, 2004 (Almaty, NCHL).

¹⁸‘Problemu “alkogolizatsii” strany mozhno reshit’ tol'ko vseobshchimi usiliyami obshchestvennosti i pri podderzhke pravitel'stva—direktor NTsPFZOZh’, 2 April 2004, available at: http://www.gazeta.kz, accessed 7 April 2006.

¹⁹N. Sartaeva, ‘Determinanty prestupnosti: kriminologicheskii analiz’, Turabi, 1, 2004, available at: http://www.supcourt.kz, accessed 5 April 2006.

²⁰N. Shamaeva, ‘Bor'ba s prestupnost'yu nesovershennoletnikh vazhneishaya zadacha gosudarstva’, Zakon i vremya, 17 October 2005, pp. 1 – 4, available at: http://www.procuror.kz, accessed 5 April 2006.

²¹In addition to Kazakhstan, Europe C includes Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Moldova, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania (see Rehm 2003, p. 151).

²²Authors' interviews with health care professionals, May 2002 and May 2003.

²³‘Problemu “alkogolizatsii” strany mozhno reshit’ tol'ko vseobshchimi usiliyami obshchestvennosti i pri podderzhke pravitel'stva—direktor NTsPFZOZh’, 2 April 2004, available at: http://www.gazeta.kz, accessed 7 April 2006.

²⁴‘Mal'chiki bol'she sklonnu k suitsidu’, Argumenty i fakty, 6 June 2004, available at http://www.aif.kz, accessed 7 April 2006; ‘Kazakhstan: Focus on the Rise in Juvenile Alcoholism’, 4 December 2003, available at: http://www.irinnews.org, accessed 7 April 2006.

²⁵‘Novosti’, Kazakhstanskii farmatsevticheskii vestnik, 8 June 2003. It should be pointed out that increases in the number of female and adolescent help-seekers expressed as percentages are likely to be large because of the low baseline figures; for this reason absolute numbers provide better evidence of real trends, but they are rarely available.

²⁶‘Novosti’, Kazakhstankii farmatsevticheskil vestnik, 8 June 2003.

²⁷Unpublished, unnumbered, circular from Ministry of Internal Affairs to National Commission on Family and Women, hard copy made available to the authors September 2004.

²⁸‘Ukreplyaetsya pravovaya baza alkogol'nogo biznesa’, Vechernii Almaty, 3 November 1999.

²⁹Authors' interviews with NCHL staff and Food Standards expert, Almaty, May 2003 and September 2004.

³⁰Authors' interviews with NCHL staff and Food Standards expert, Almaty, May 2003 and September 2004.

³¹Kh. Shalabaev, ‘Osobennosti natsional'nogo pivovareniya’, 28 June 2004, available at: http://www.mizinov.net, accessed 5 April 2006.

³²‘Napitki’, available at: http://www.astana.dan.kz, accessed 10 December 2005; ‘Rates of Exchange for Customs and VAT Purposes 06/2005’, available at: http://www.customs.hmrc.gov.uk, accessed 23 March 2007.

³³In May 2003, 775 men were detained at No. 3 station, Almaty.

³⁴Authors' interviews with legal workers, militia and medical professionals, Almaty, June 2003. Sobering-up stations file regular reports detailing the number of clients and their socio-economic profile; this information is not in the public domain.

³⁵‘Zavtra—eto znachit nikogda’, Yuridicheskaya gazeta, 14 May 1997.

³⁶Voluntary treatment for paying patients was first introduced during the anti-alcohol campaign of the 1980s; it took effect in Kazakhstan from 1988 and led, reportedly, to a fall in the number of registrations for alcoholism (Kazakhstan v tsifrakh v 1988 1989, p. 48).

³⁷Brief interventions are short discussions with a health care professional, counsellor or social worker and a problem drinker during which advice is given. They have been shown to be as effective as more lengthy and expensive methods (see Room 2005, p. 523).

³⁸Unpublished press release, ‘Reshenie kruglogo stola: zhenskii alkogolizm: situatsiya, problemy, puti resheniya’, 2004 (Almaty, NCHL).

³⁹Authors' interviews with NCHL staff, May 2004.

⁴⁰Authors' interviews with private sector psychiatrist, Almaty, May 2003.

⁴¹Authors' interviews with NCHL staff, Almaty, May 2003.

⁴²Authors' interviews with educationalists and NGO workers, May 2003.

⁴³Authors' interviews with over 20 medical professionals, working in clinics and hospitals in Almaty, May – June 2003.