A Review of Recent Alcohol Policy Developments in Europe

The implementation of WHO strategy at national level in Europe is highly dependent on the local political circumstances. Where there is concern about alcohol harm and political will, the WHO strategic priorities have been highly influential. In order to build public and political support for prevention, alcohol policy advocates should ensure that there is good data on trends within age, gender, and income groups and develop policies to respond to these trends. The concept of proportionate universalism, where interventions are understood to have a broad population effect but the effect is greater on the groups most in need, may be more useful than the traditional alcohol policy field conceptualizations of whole population and targeted measures…