AB INBEV Namibia promotes Global Smart Drinking Goals
Globally brewer, AB INBEV and also the largest brewery since merging with SAB Miller in 2016, resulting in AB INBEV Namibia, has taken up the gauntlet to work towards creating a better world, particularly focusing on promoting healthier and safer consumption of alcohol through its Global Smart Drinking Goals.
The harmful use of alcohol remains an issue of significant concern to governments and societies across the globe. To address this universal issue, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has set a target to reduce the harmful use of alcohol by 10% by 2025. This is also an area of focus within the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Aligning itself with these global goals, AB InBev Namibia has begun promoting its Global Smart Drinking Goals. At the core of its goals is the knowledge that in order to ensure a long term and sustainable reduction of harmful drinking, consumer behaviours need to change. These goals capture the organisations efforts to make a deeper investment in programmes that measurably shift
social norms and behaviours around harmful alcohol use.
Understanding that social responsibility is integral in any truly successful enterprise, AB InBev Namibia, amongst other activities, has partnered with theMVA Fund to run the “Break the Habit” campaign, which includes public lectures, and other programmes designed to educate consumers to make smart drinking choices.
The company also commissioned a song entitled “Break the Habit” performed by local Namibian artists as part of the strategy to create awareness of the hazards of reckless alcohol drinking and the
importance of having safer drinking habits.
To empower consumers through providing choice globally, the conglomerate intends to ensure that No- or Lower-Alcohol beer products represent at least 20% of the AB InBev’s beer volume by the end of 2025 and increase alcohol health literacy by the end of 2025, along with ensuring that all beer products have a guidance label by 2020.
AB InBev’s smart drinking goals form part of a larger strategy introduced by the company in 2016 – The Better World strategy which hinges on three core pillars, aligning its environmental, social and alcohol responsibility efforts to make the world a better place.
The strategy focuses on working towards a growing world where everyone has the chance to improve their livelihoods, a cleaner world where natural resources are shared and preserved for the
future, and a healthier world, where every experience with beer is a positive one, hence the smart drinking objectives. AB InBev Namibia’s involvement in the “Break the Habit” campaign enhances its efforts to create a better world.
The AB InBev Namibia Brewery is located in Okahandja where it provides employment opportunities for numerous Namibians. The company’s well-known commitment to quality products as a beer brewer does not negate its commitment to creating a better world through global social responsibility.
Caption: Ms Maija-Lisa Prinzonsky, AB INBEV Namibia Legal and Corporate Affairs Manager
