The Dominican Republic is one of the countries with the highest rates of alcohol and drug use among pregnant women, and a good number of them are rooted in the vain belief that “a little beer cleanses the baby.”

However, this and many others are nothing more than myths that, if they go with the flow, not knowing the amount of alcohol needed to harm the fetus could lead, a few years later, to irrevocable consequences in the development of any child.

Poor memory, hyperactivity, attention deficit, cognitive deformities, and intellectual disability were pointed out by Martín Ortiz, Maternal, Child and Adolescent Director of the National Health Service, as consequences of consuming alcohol during pregnancy in the face of the libertine thought that you could eat just a little.

“Alcohol consumption during pregnancy can cause fetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD), which are physical, intellectual and behavioral disabilities, which would permanently affect your child,” Ortiz said during the launch of the “prevention of alcohol and drug consumption in pregnant women,” together with the Fénix Foundation.

With this campaign, both the foundation and the SNS seek to educate women of reproductive age about the risks of consuming alcohol and drugs during pregnancy, “both for her and for the baby.”

Starting at the La Altagracia Maternity, the team intends to launch awareness campaigns in the different maternity hospitals and hospitals in the country, seeking to dismantle the myths surrounding alcohol intake during pregnancy.

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Drinking alcohol during pregnancy can cause miscarriage, stillbirth, and a variety of lifelong physical, intellectual, and behavioral disabilities. These disabilities are known as fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.