New Publications
Three papers by Diyanath Samarasinghe, professor at the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, published as FORUT booklets, explore various aspects of alcohol, with special reference to developing countries.
Professor Samarasinghe discusses the role of unrecorded alcohol; connections between alcohol and poverty, and things that can be done to reduce alcohol harm.
UNRECORDED ALCOHOL
In regions where the unrecorded alcohol consumption is high, this fact necessarily has to be taken into account when planning strategies and interventions to reduce alcohol-related harm. Interventions directed to the formal, legal production and sale have to be combined with actions to control the unrecorded market. It is in the interests of government from both a fiscal and a policy perspective to move towards eliminating illicit production and sale and to bringing informal supply under the taxation system.
REDUCING ALCOHOL HARM: things we can do
This booklet is for someone who is interested in learning how to make even the smallest actions count. Successful results are dependent on selecting not only the right approaches, but also appropriate and realistic targets. Building on some general background, 14 steps for action are suggested.
ALCOHOL AND POVERTY: some connections
In the third booklet Professor Samarasinghe explores the complex connections between alcohol and poverty. The impact of alcohol on poverty is more than through just the money spent on it. The converse influence, of poverty on alcohol, has far more to it than found in the simplistic explanation that heavy consumption is the result of the harshness of poor lives.
The booklets can be ordered in paper versions from FORUT or be downloaded in printer friendly versions from
the ADD web site http://www.add-resources.org/three-new-booklets.4610561-76188.html
THE PAN AMERICAN HEALTH ORGANIZATION
Unhappy Hours: Alcohol and Partner Aggression in the Americas
Unhappy Hours: Alcohol and Partner Aggression in the Americas (edited by Kathryn Graham, Sharon Bernards, Myriam Munné, & Sharon Wilsnack) is the latest contribution in the Organization’s effort to better understand partner violence and, in so doing, find more effective interventions to right this wrong.
The book explores the relationship between alcohol consumption and partner violence and for the first time gets information from both the aggressor’s and victim’s perspective. It brings to light evidence of alcohol’s impact on partner aggression from 10 countries in the Americas (Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Canada, Costa Rica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Uruguay, and the United States), and represents an unprecedented effort to collect and analyze information from the general population that can be compared across countries. Despite wide differences between countries and cultures, there are common characteristics and trends across countries regarding the relationship between alcohol and partner violence.
This publication will be of interest to a variety of audiences, including the academic and research communities, students, health promoters, health professionals, communicators, ministries of public health, and the victims of partner aggression.