We are thrilled to announce that we have agreed with the French agency Fédération Addiction, that it can promote the brilliant Dry January campaign across France, in French.
For years, people in France have taken part in Dry January, the free month-long challenge and support package that enables people to reset their relationship with alcohol and drink more healthily in the long term. In fact, 5% of the people who downloaded our Try Dry app in January 2019 were from France.
This is no surprise, as the levels of drinking in France are, on average, the third highest of any OECD country and 41,000 people, mostly men, die as a result. Alcohol deaths are the second largest category of avoidable deaths in France, after smoking.
Dry January is a highly successful programme for those of us who may have found ourselves drinking more than we would like and who are finding it hard to cut down. Using smart behaviour change techniques and a positive, non-judgemental approach, the Dry January campaign engages people in really thinking about their drinking and taking action for the long term.
In fact, six months after Dry January, over 70% of participants are drinking less, and experiencing all the benefits that happen as a result: healthier skin, better sleep, more energy, financial savings and more. Evidence also suggests that just one month without alcohol has amazing health benefits for your body, including lower blood pressure, cholesterol and diabetes risk, as well as lower cancer-related proteins in the blood. And of course drinking less lowers your chances of developing serious health problems, such as cancer, liver disease, stroke or heart problems; while improving general mental health and wellbeing.
The support package and Try Dry app will be in English for Dry January 2020. We hope to work with Fédération Addiction in France to translate the Dry January programme in time for 2021.
Independent evaluation has shown that signing up the official, supported Dry January makes it twice as likely that you will be successful, compared to trying to do a dry January on your own. Signing up is free, does not commit you to fundraising, and unlocks the free support.
So we invite our friends in France to download the Try Dry app and to give Dry January a go, taking a big first step to having healthier drinking habits all year round.