The main goal of the study is to understand the scope and magnitude of alcohol`s harm to people other than the drinker, to measure the extent of recognition and ways of addressing this problem by health and social service agencies, and to draw out the implications of the findings for policies and interventions to reduce the harmful use of alcohol and its consequences.
The main objective of the study is to chart and measure the many ways in which drinking may adversely affect others associated with the drinker in low-and middle-income societies, and identify the diverse responses to such harms by societal response agencies. The second objective is to compare profiles and prevalence of distress among family members and associates of alcoholics between societies, as well as within each society, and to develop and test hypotheses about explanations of the differences found, with a view to improving preventive policies and the public health response to harms arising from others’ drinking.
This information complements data available on alcohol consumption as a risk factor in the burden of disease, since that data primarily measures adverse effects of drinking on the drinker. Collecting and analysing information on alcohol’s adverse effects on others has several anticipated benefits for society:
- the information on the scope and size of problems will indicate areas where the greatest unmet needs are, in terms of services and assistance;
- detailed information about the circumstances and contingencies of particular harms to others, can contribute to forming responses and policies that will prevent or diminish the harm;
- the study can ascertain ways in which the responses can be enhanced and made maximally effective in helping those who have been harmed by recording the current responses of societal agencies to the problems;
- the data is likely to be particularly helpful in developing policy support effective countermeasures and policies, since harm to a second person from the first person’s behaviour is a strong argument for effective governmental policy and prevention;
- the study results will provide guidance for future efforts to improve the database on alcohol’s harms to others, both at international and at national and subnational levels, as well as for formulating policies and other efforts to reduce rates of such harms.