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Best practices in preventing alcohol
problems
International evidence base
Øystein Bakke, FORUT
Development and welfare in Malawi – the case of alcohol problems
Thematic session 3: Alcohol Policy
Knowledge base
vs.
Knowledge base
• Evidence based best practices
• Smokescreendraws attention away from effective policies
vs.
• Asahi Breweries, LTD. • Bacardi-Martini • Beam Global Spirits & Wine • Brown-Forman Corporation • Diageo PLC • Heineken N.V. • InBev • Molson Coors • Pernod Ricard • SABMiller PLC • Scottish & Newcastle
Recapture: Best Practices
• Minimum legal purchase age
• Government monopoly of retail sales
• Restriction on hours or days of sale
• Outlet density restrictions
• Alcohol taxes
• Sobriety check points• Lowered BAC limits• Administrative
license suspension• Graduated licensing
for novice drivers• Brief interventions for
hazardous drinkers
Least Effective Practices
• Voluntary codes of bar practice
• Promoting alcohol-free activities
• Alcohol education in schools
• College student education
• Public service messages
• Warning labels• Designated
drivers and ride services
Alcohol: No ordinary commodity• Opportunities for effective,
evidence-based alcohol policies are more available than ever to better serve the public good.
• Alcohol policies that limit access to alcoholic beverages, increase the price of alcohol, and enforce laws and regulations through deterrence, are likely to reduce the harm linked to specific drinking patterns and per capita consumption.
How harm is generated
• There is strong evidence that alcohol related harm is directly related to the aggregate amount of alcohol consumed in a particular population
• The more people who drink and the more they drink, the bigger the problem
Implications for prevention• Reduce overall consumption
– Delay initiation of use– Reduce heavy alcohol use– Reduce population consumption
• Minimise harmful patterns of consumption– Change harmful behaviours associated
with alcohol use– Insulate alcohol use from special
situations (e.g. driving)
The simple assumption does not work:Knowledge > Attitudes/values > Action
A comprehensive andintegrated strategyis more likely to work
Comprehensive strategy
Prevention and policy
• Alcohol prevention and policy goes hand in hand– Policy measures reduce consumption
and harm– Information campaigns and education
programs are not effective means to change drinking behaviour
– Campaigns may create a more receptive climate to policy control
– Complementary strategies will be more effective than single strategies
Control policies
Education Mobilization
• A broad set of interventions• Interlinked and coordinated• Each type of interventions serve their specific purpose
The prevention triangle
A top-down approachRegulation of markets by governments to reduce the availability of a substance and to guarantee - from a health/social point of view - safest possible production and distribution system.
Education Mobilization
Control policies
Control policies
• The owner of a national strategy is the state:– Need to involve several state actors,
including Ministry of Health or Social Welfare, law enforcement, the judiciary, and the Ministry of Finance
• Contribution of the alcohol industry – only in the context of their roles as
producers, distributors and marketers of alcohol, and not in terms of alcohol policy development or health promotion. (WHO Expert Committee – Recommendation no. 9)
Education:Provide information and training and influence values – to help people to decide and act adequately in their respective settings
Control policies
Mobilization
Education
Mobilization:Make alcohol and drug prevention a part of the agenda for social/political movements, link the issue to other key policy issues and involve leadership and members in practical activities.
Control policies
Education
Mobilization
Checklist for local context• Which types of substances are
available and are being used?– Homemade
traditional beverages– Industrially produced
traditional beverages– Domestic production
of international beverages
– Imported international alcohol brands
• Illegal Drugs?
Checklist for local context• Who are the users?
– Proportion of non-users and users– Gender differences– Age differences
• Situations of use?– Regularity, amount?– Kind of situations?– Risky situations– Risky patterns
Checklist for local context• The consumption
context?– Traditional context– Ritual context– Poverty context
(urban or rural)– Modernity context
(Westernized values, globalization)
– Crisis context (conflict, war, disaster)
Checklist for local context• The consequences of alcohol and
drug use?– Which are the most frequent negative
con- sequences of taking alcohol and drugs;
– for the users themselves; for their family;
Checklist for local context• The consequences of alcohol and
drug use? (cont.)– for friends, colleagues, neighbourhood;– for the local community – for the society at large?– Which do you consider to be the most
serious problems following substance abuse?
– Which consequences are the most detrimental from a development perspective?
Checklist for local context• Distribution
systems?– Who are the
producers or the sources for the various substances?
– Who are the distributors and retailers?
– Which other vested interests are involved?
Checklist for local context• Level of
alcohol consumption?– Recorded
consumption– Un-recorded,
legal consumption
– Consumption of illegal beverages
Checklist for local context
• The use-values of the substances?– Which values are
attributed to the substance use, by the users or the surroundings?
– Cultural values– Social values– Economical benefits– Psychological effects– Physical effects
Checklist for local context• What are the means available to
constrain the availability of alcohol?– … and to structure consumption into
the least harmful forms?• How are taxes on alcohol collected?• How well informed are politicians
and decision- makers?– Is there a need to disseminate public
information on these topics, to create an sustain political support for effective alcohol policies?
Alcohol in Devloping Societies• The most effective approaches to
reducing alcohol problems regulate alcohol’s availability and the conditions of its use.
• The research evidence clearly indicates that governments possess the powers and policy levers to reduce and prevent alcohol problems.
• Developing systems for regulating the alcohol market to reduce alcohol related problems is an essential task for developing states.