Brazilian consensus on public policies on alcohol

This is the summary of a meeting where a group of experts, representing several health organizations and academic departments from different parts of Brazil, created a consensus about the main alcohol policies which should be implemented by different levels of the Brazilian government. The World Health Organization has been suggesting for 30 years the actions that should be implemented for the public good. Two important conclusions were reached: 1) The research establishes beyond doubt that public health measures of proven effectiveness are available to serve the public good by reducing the widespread costs and pain related to alcohol use; 2) To that end, it is appropriate to deploy responses that influence both the total amount of alcohol consumed by a population and the high-risk contexts and drinking behaviours that are so often associated with alcohol-related problems. To conceive of these intrinsically complementary approaches as contractory alternatives would be a mistake. The objectives of the consensus are: 1) To make the scientific evidences more available to the Brazilian policy makers; 2) To facilitate the evaluation of the available strategies according their effectivity, scientific support, cost and cultural adaptability; 3) To make the Brazilian health professionals familiar with the priorities of alcohol policies.