Alcohol misuse: tackling the UK epidemic - London

Foreword
The Board of Science and Education, a standing committee of the British Medical Association (BMA),
provides an interface between the medical profession, the government and the public. One major aim of
the board is to contribute to the improvement of public health. It has developed policies on a wide range
of issues such as alcohol, smoking and eating disorders, and specific groups such as children and the
elderly. The board’s work on public health has resulted in a number of publications including School sex
education: good practice and policy (1997), The misuse of drugs (1997), Alcohol and young people (1999), Growing
up in Britain: ensuring a healthy future for our children (1999), Eating disorders, body image and the media (2000)
and Sexually transmitted infections (2002).
This report focuses on the problems facing adolescents and examines the evidence surrounding
adolescent health, behaviour and interventions. It reviews four important areas in adolescent health:
nutrition, exercise and obesity; smoking, drinking and drug use; mental health; and sexual health. For
each area this report discusses the prevalence of the problems involved, examines which adolescents are
affected, describes the interventions used to address the issues and evaluates the effectiveness of these
strategies.
This report is intended to raise the profile of adolescent health and to help inform future policy. In
addition, this report acts as an information resource for healthcare professionals, providing an overview
of adolescent health issues and the policy environment.
Professor Sir David Carter
Chairman, Board of Science and Education
December 2003
Editorial note
There are many definitions of the age range covered by the term adolescence. This report does not
define adolescence by age and the age groups chosen by the sources used in this report vary. Most
cover young people aged between 11 and 19 years old.
The BMA has a number of policies relevant to the topics addressed in this report. These are listed
separately in annex 1.
British Medical Association Adolescent health v