Alcohol Prevention in the Netherlands: first steps to evidence based prevention

Transcription

1 Alcohol Prevention in the Netherlands: first steps to evidence based prevention Wim van Dalen National Foundation for Alcohol Prevention;

2 To introduce my country The Netherlands 17 million inhabitants

3 The stereotypes of our country to attract visitors cheeze flowers Wooden shoos Wooden shoos

4 Alcohol in the Netherlands 8,1 liter pure alcohol per capita Beer most popular, but is slowly decreasing Wine consumption is always slowly increasing Premixers and other sweet drinks (up to 14,9 %): a risky challenge for kids The so-called beer-home-tap is promoted enormously

5 10 times drinking in the last months (15/16 years) Source: ESPAD 2003 NL: 25%

6 Binge drinking last month (3 times or more)

7 Starting age of weekly drinking 100% 80% 60% 40% 20% 0% 9jr 10jr 11jr 12jr 13jr 14jr 15jr 16jr 17jr jongens meisjes

8 One of the biggest threats: drinking figures of young girls. 100 Lifetime Girls

9 Alcohol in the Netherlands Dutch young people (12-18) drink most frequently compared to all European youth (25% drinks al least every three days a week). 50% of the boys of 15 drinks more than 5 glasses at a weekend night; 20% more than 10 glasses. 10 % of the whole population drinks above safe norms and have concrete problems (17% man, 4% women) There are alcohol addicts and problem drinkers Costs of alcohol for society: 2.58 billion euro dollar(kpmg, 2001)

10 Alcohol and young people Very tolerant attitude of parents Buying alcohol is very easy Still too much focus on education

11 Parents are tolerant 40% of the Dutch parents accept drinking their kids of on parties where they are alone with friends 65 % accept this for year old kids (Van den Eijnden, 2006).

12 Key problem big exposure to alcohol Alcohol is cheap Alcopops are easy to get Marketing is attractive

13 Many youngsters create their own drinking places

14 shifts in policy.. More focus on municipal/regional alcohol policy More focus on enforcement More focus on parents Concrete success: tv and radio ban before 9 p.m

15 What do we need.. A reframing of the concept of prevention a stronger prevention management of the local authorities more input of and cooperation with enforcement people more input from volunteers, parents, citizens.. more research on local level

16 Project Eindhoven region ( inh.) 21 municipalities

17 Back ground: a lot of media coverage on alcohol problems Accidents in nightly discotrain between Eindhoven and surrounding villages Increased alcohol consumption among youth in the region Increasing number of (illegal) private drinking places

18 Alcohol consumers (in %) Regional figures % Age

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20 The prevention model Policy and legislation Enforcement Prevention Creating public support

21 System approach Personal, Family, & Community Attributes Overall Community Supply of Alcohol Retail (or Illegal) Availability of Alcohol convenience and availability of Alcohol retail sales Social Availability of Alcohol social access community acceptability or disapproval enforcement support of community values Community Norms: Acceptability of Alcohol Consumption D E M A N D exposure involvement Individual/Peer Domain Family Domain Community Domain News, Entertainment and Product Marketing (Mass media, TV, advertising) School Environments and Programs Alcohol Availability SUPPLY SUPPLY Alcohol Consumption community pressure for enforcement Consequences perceived threat of enforcement Enforcement and Regulation Restricting sales of alcohol to minors Alcohol vending machine bans Alcohol-free parks and public spaces Tax increase on alcohol products Community police enforcement priority Curfews and family rules Drunk driving Drug overdose Alcohol poisoning Alcohol-involved injuries and death Violence Crime involvement Alcohol dependency

22 Don t go for fast success : step by step model Problem Awareness Public support Political support Political decision (1) Financies Plan/ Goals/ succes criteria Political decision (2) Steering group etc Implementation

23 Clear measurable project goals No alcohol use below 16 No drunkenness in public

24 Who got involved? Healthcare Police Alcohol law enforcers (VWA) Civil servants Region of Eindhoven (SRE) Not involved yet: sellers of alcohol

25 Essential contributing factors for the start of this project The personal involvement of some policy makers The financial support from the province The media exposure from the regional press Focus not primarily on education The mutual will to start a long term project

26 1. Creating public support Strategic and creative use of the media Involvement of parents Warning posters in outlets Organization of special events related to alcohol

27 2. Policy and legislation Evaluation of the municipal alcohol policies Design of a more effective alcohol policy plan on: Cabins Bar opening hours Alcohol use in public places Licensing system Design of a alcohol free zones plan

28 3. Enforcement Development of a specific alcohol enforcement policy: the drinking age of 16 year being drunk in public drinking & driving drinking in public places We also test new enforcement strategies

29 Research agenda Epidemiological research Compliance research (mystery shoppers) Parental attitude study Process evaluation

30 Compliance research N=224 Sport clubs (n=60): 100% Bar/disco (n=83): 95.2% Supermarket (n=81): 91.4%

31 Potential critical factors for the future The results from the compliance checks A possible one sided focus on parental education Financial problems Enforcers with a lack of capacity Domino effect when municipalities refuse/quit cooperation Lack of support for continuation after 4 years

32 Thank you Ir. W.E. (Wim) van Dalen Manager STAP Barcelona, April 2008