Bridging the Gap

Nearly 400 participants from 32 countries gathered in Warsaw in June for the Bridging the Gap conference, a major initiativesponsored and organised by Eurocare with the financial support of the European Commission. Co-sponsors included the World Health Organisation, the European Cultural Foundation and the Polish State Agency for Prevention of Alcohol Problems.

The conference opened with speeches of welcome by Eorupean Commissioner Designate Pavel Telicka, Irish Health Minister Michael Martin; Lars Møller of the European Office of the World Health Organization. The conference was the first in a series of initiatives designed to bridge the gaps between scientists, policy makers and programme implementers. Others include the creation of a European Union-wide alcohol policy network, the first meeting of which coincided with the conference, a Eurocare alcohol policy advocacy training manual, and two alcohol policy advocacy schools planned for 2005 and 2006.

In this double issue of The Globe we publish a number of the papers given at the conference.