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The Lancet, Volume 373, Issue 9682, Pages 2234 - 2246, 27 June 2009
doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(09)60744-3Cite or Link Using DOI

Effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of policies and programmes to reduce the harm caused by alcohol

Peter Anderson MD a Corresponding AuthorEmail Address, Dan Chisholm PhD b, Daniela C Fuhr Dipl-Psych c

Summary

This paper reviews the evidence for the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of policies and programmes to reduce the harm caused by alcohol, in the areas of education and information, the health sector, community action, driving while under the influence of alcohol (drink-driving), availability, marketing, pricing, harm reduction, and illegally and informally produced alcohol. Systematic reviews and meta-analyses show that policies regulating the environment in which alcohol is marketed (particularly its price and availability) are effective in reducing alcohol-related harm. Enforced legislative measures to reduce drink-driving and individually directed interventions to already at-risk drinkers are also effective. However, school-based education does not reduce alcohol-related harm, although public information and education-type programmes have a role in providing information and in increasing attention and acceptance of alcohol on political and public agendas. Making alcohol more expensive and less available, and banning alcohol advertising, are highly cost-effective strategies to reduce harm. In settings with high amounts of unrecorded production and consumption, increasing the proportion of alcohol that is taxed could be a more effective pricing policy than a simple increase in tax.
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a School for Public Health and Primary Care, University of Maastricht, Maastricht, Netherlands
b Department of Health Systems Financing, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland
c Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany
Corresponding Author Information Correspondence to: Peter Anderson, School for Public Health and Primary Care, University of Maastricht, PO Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, Netherlands
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