Prevention
of Alcohol-Related Problems
The prevention of alcohol-related problems is a huge topic, as can
be seen by browsing through PREVLINE
(DHS and SAMSHA's clearinghouse for alcohol and drug information). As
this page is being written, San Francisco is in the midst of two large
planning processes that will influence the way that alcohol-related
problems might be prevented. The first of these planning processes is
the work of the prevention subcommittee of the Mental
Health Services Act (California Proposition 63), which will be completed
during the Fall of 2005. The second is the development of a Substance
Abuse Prevention Strategic Plan, which will take place between August
2005 and July 2006. Both of these planning processes will be informed
and guided by the San Francisco Department of Public Health's Prevention
Strategic Plan.
Accordingly, the comments below emphasize environmental approaches,
recognizing, as Geoffrey Rose pointed out in his classic paper "Sick
Individuals and Sick Populations," that the "high risk"
approach to prevention, carried out in clinical settings, and the "population
approach," which seeks to control the causes of incidence, are
complementary.
Alcohol is included in the World Bank's Priorities in Health,
Chapter 5. "Cost-Effective Strategies for Noncommunicable Diseases,
Risk Factors, and Behaviors," the section on alcohol.
