Message from the President (Last Updated On: ) Dear Friends, Peace be upon you. Every year, there is a World Day Against Substance Abuse and Alcohol Abuse. Its topic this year (26 June 2000) was “Facing reality – denial, corruption and violence.” Alcohol, if abused, can have tremendous consequences, although it is legally available while narcotics are not. Infants and children can face serious results from substance abuse by adults, including the abuse of substances obtained legally. The use of alcohol may give rise to “fetal alcohol syndrome” which can cause a variety of problems including mental retardation, reduced growth (before and after birth), poor muscle tone, heart defects, abnormal limb development, certain facial characteristics, and behavioral problems. Smoking by a pregnant woman can affect the development of the fetus, with consequences such as low birth weight, miscarriage or premature delivery. Growth of some infants continues to be slow after birth, and smoking during pregnancy may contribute in later years to a childs behavioral problems or learning disorders. Children do not deserve these disabilities. Moreover, many kinds of child abuse and neglect occur as a result of alcohol and substance abuse. As they grow up children living with parents addicted to illegal or legal substances may accept the adults behavior as a model for their own lives. The fetus, infants and young children are helpless in the face of these dangers. To deny such problems violates basic rights. That is why we must work together to stop alcohol and substance abuse from affecting children. Alcohol and substance abuse have other far-reaching consequences, since they can be associated with casual sex and multiple sexual partners. This in turn can deprive a child of the chance to have a stable family life, and even of knowing who his or her father is, a basic human right. Sexual freedom combined with substance abuse can corrupt society. In the last newsletter I stressed that an infants mental health is the cornerstone for longlasting mental wellbeing. This issue and the related one of an infants human rights are not given the attention they deserve. I hope that we can highlight their importance, and develop a strategy to protect the mental health and human rights of infants. Best regards, Dr. Ahmed Abou El-Azayem President, WFMH