Addressing the harmful use of alcohol - WHO Western Pacific Region

Addressing the harmful use of alcohol : A guide to developing effective alcohol legislation
Ministry of Health, but with a resulting loss of relative autonomy that could be achieved by
having a stand-alone body whose sole focus is on public health activities.
Whatever mechanism is chosen, care is needed to design and implement appropriate
governance and accountability arrangements for a fund or a foundation. These arrangements
should include mechanisms designed to ensure independence from political and commercial
interests.
Effective use of dedicated funding
In setting aside alcohol taxes for particular purposes, it is important to consider whether these
resources are being dedicated to strategies of proven effectiveness in reducing alcohol-related
harm. The health promotion purposes of a fund or foundation should be broadly defined
to include all effective policy strategies and avoid ineffective strategies, such as expensive,
stand-alone media campaigns, which may be made viable by the availability of funding.
For example, mass media campaigns and school-based education increase awareness
and knowledge about alcohol, but they have limited effect on drinking behaviour if nothing
changes in the social, legal or economic environment around the drinker (Babor et al. 2010;
Edwards et al. 1994). The best use of media campaigns may be to raise public awareness
about the package of effective laws and policies that the government is putting in place. This
was the approach being taken by the Norwegian Directorate for Health and Social Affairs in
a 2004 campaign (“Alvorlig talt”), which aimed to increase knowledge about harms from
alcohol consumption, to advise parents on communicating with their children about alcohol,
and to increase public awareness of the need for and effectiveness of restrictive alcohol policy
measures (Rise 2005). Evaluation of New South Wales’ drink-drive policies suggests media
campaigns are ineffective if focused on social harm, but they can be important in contributing
to high awareness of police enforcement and convincing the average motorist that there is
a high chance of being caught (Homel 1993). Media campaigns may also add value if they
directly support and are clearly linked to organized nongovernmental organization (NGO)
activity.
Alcohol control laws require monitoring and enforcement to be effective (Babor et al. 2010).
Costs, often met from police, justice or local government budgets, often limit this work.
Dedicating a portion of alcohol excise duty or a levy to ensure an effective level of monitoring
and enforcement of alcohol laws and policies is something that governments should consider
as part of an effective policy package.
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