Pregnancy healthcare providers represent the best opportunity we have to help avoid Prenatal Alcohol Exposure (PAE) and subsequent FASD.

The New Zealand College of Midwives’ first statement on their ‘Guidance for Practice’ web page is: “There is no known safe level of alcohol consumption at any stage of pregnancy. Therefore parents planning a pregnancy and women who are pregnant should be advised not to drink alcohol.”

There is an enormous amount of information on alcohol in pregnancy available, both nationally and internationally, which can support your own mahi as well as for you to direct your patients to.

• In 2024, an anti-alcohol campaign entitled ‘Nurture the Future Within’ was launched in Aotearoa NZ which aims to draw attention to FASD and avoiding alcohol in pregnancy.
  
  
• The Australian ‘Every Moment Matters’ campaign made headlines in 2022 as one of the most successful in the world. It aims to raise awareness of the risks of alcohol consumption while pregnant, planning a pregnancy or breastfeeding. It highlights that every moment is crucial in pregnancy when it comes to drinking alcohol, starting from the moment a person starts trying to conceive. There are lots of great resources for healthcare professionals on this link.
  
  
• The National Organisation for FASD in the UK released an alcohol and pregnancy toolkit in June 2023 which includes an interactive e-learning course designed to help midwives and other maternity staff, as well as information in a variety of formats (some interactive) on alcohol and FASD for people who are pregnant or trying to get pregnant. Click here to access the toolkit.