ALCOHOL IN EUROPE: A PUBLIC HEALTH PERSPECTIVE Evidence for an EU strategy

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ALCOHOL IN EUROPE A PUBLIC HEALTH
PERSPECTIVEEvidence for an EU strategy

• Presentation to SAADAT meeting, 4 Oct 2006
• Ben Baumberg, Institute of Alcohol Studies

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(No Transcript)
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INTRODUCTION

• Alcohol in Europe report is not the EU
  strategy!
• Snippets from a full report of over 400 pages,
  available online
• Political context

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How and how much we drink
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Use of alcohol
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The EU and the world
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Drinking meals
Source Eurobarometer (2002)
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Young mens drinking
Heavy drinking 1 bottle of wine or equivalent
on a single occasion Source ECAS
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Binge-drinking in young people

• Intoxication
• Binge-drinking
• 3 in last 30 days on map (right)

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Trends in young boys
Source ESPAD (Hibell et al 2004)
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Trends in young girls
Source ESPAD (Hibell et al 2004)
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and the consequences
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Net burden of ill-health (1)
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Net burden of ill-health (2)
Source WHO GBD study (Rehm et al 2003)
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likely under-estimate
Source Lloyd-Jones et al 1998
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Burden on young people
Source WHO GBD study (Rehm 2005)
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Cost of alcohol to Europe
Total tangible costs 125bn
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Social harm in Europe
Source ECAS
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The policy response
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Cirrhosis in southern Europe
Source Un-weighted average of France, Italy,
Greece, Spain and Portugal data from the HFA
database
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Effect of 1l consumption dropMedium-consuming
EU15 males
Source (Norström et al. 2001)
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Licensing hours
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Tax levels in Europe
Tax levels Average effective tax adjusting for
purchasing power PP lt400 PP 400 1000 PP
gt 1000
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The Swiss alcopops tax
Before
After
Source Eidgenössische Alkoholverwaltung 2005
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Community initiatives
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Strengthening Families Programme
Controls
SFP
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Most other programmes
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The effect of the Loi Evin
Before
After
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Cost-effectiveness
10,000 per DALY
1,000 per DALY
Brief interventions
Random breath testing
Taxes
100 per DALY

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The alcohol economy

• Employment in bars in Italy (left) and hotels,
  restaurants and bars in Finland (right)

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What can the EU do?

• EU internal market flexibility
• Drink-driving and other campaigns
• Community mobilization
• Brief interventions
• Health warnings
• Advertising restrictions
• And political pressure

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CONCLUSIONS

• Alcohol is a major health problem across all of
  Europe but the UK looks worse than many other
  countries
• We know what we could do to reduce levels of harm
  and we also know what wont work

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Institute of Alcohol Studieswww.ias.org.uk44
(0)207 222 4001

• Ben Baumberg
• Policy and Research Officer
• bbaumberg_at_ias.org.uk