After the call from doctors asking the government to support the “January challenge”, Aurélien Rousseau announced on Thursday that he intended to “take advantage of this collective movement” to abstain from drinking alcohol.
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He takes up the “January challenge”. The Minister of Health, Aurélien Rousseau, affirmed, Thursday, December 14, that he intended to be “sober” for a month on the occasion of the fifth French edition of “Dry January”, supported by associations. “I will try to take advantage of this collective movement to not consume alcohol, (…) I have actually started now”he declared on BFMTV.
The minister, however, said “very suspicious or careful” as for a possible government incentive to take up this challenge, which could be perceived as an injunction telling the French “how to live for a month”. At the end of November, 48 scientists and doctors called on the government to support this “positive operation” allowing everyone to “question the place alcohol takes in your life”.
“Alcohol is 45 000 preventable deaths per year”, recalled Aurélien Rousseau. He presented his two priorities in this area: “the youth”, at the heart of a campaign launched in September, and “fetal alcoholwho will be “a fight in 2024”. “L“The first drink for a pregnant woman poses serious risks for the baby.”did he declare.
