1. Policy recommendations

2. Communication on EU Alcohol Strategy (2006)
Main goal: To prevent and cut back heavy drinking & underage drinking
To support and complement national public health policies, by recognizing different cultural habits
No intention to propose a harmonised legislation!
5 priority themes
Protect young people
Develop and maintain a common evidence base at EU level
Mapping actions put in place by EU or Member states
Good practices
Areas where further progress could be made
Multi-stakeholder and multi-sector action

3. AAA-Prevent Research Education Innovation
A means to attain these goals for its member states

4. Policy recommendations
Input data
Quantitative
analyses
Qualitative
analyses
ISRD-2
25 countries
Regional seminar 1
Alcohol policies
Regional seminar 2
Prevention programs
Ghent seminar
Focus groups
Policy recommendations

5. Recommendation 1: Person-related prevention
Empowering young people with the necessarily skills
ISRD: Self-control one the most powerful predictors of alcohol use
Up-to-date information
Working interactively and involving students as actors in this educational practice
Focus on positive messages

6. Recommendation 2: Structural prevention
Widely adopted in the domain of regulation
Availability & taxation of alcohol
Consumer information
Drink-driving policy
Much less in settings were teenagers spent most of their time
Family, school, peers, neigbourhood
Relates to the findings in the ISRD analyses, i.e. the underlying causes of alcohol use
Most effective at the local level

7. Example: Schools
Changes needed in order to increase students’ well-being
Better physical and psychosocial school environment
Appropriate training for teachers in working pro-actively and person-centered
Better cooperation with local agencies that work with youth
Changes needed when existing structures tend to reproduce inequalities: e.g. streaming leads to gradients
Postponement of the definitive choice till upper secondary school
Better appreciation of students in vocational tracks
Tailored health education to the needs of specific learning styles

8. Recommendation 3: Evidence-based prevention
Catch 22
Absence of a culture of evaluation

9. Recommendation 4: Diffusion of knowledge
Database of best practices
Sharing knowledge concerning effective programmes
To identify other relevant programmes
Possibilities of implementation
What works for which groups and under which conditions

10. Some overall conclusions
Prevention= to change behaviour when people are young
Integral holistic approach: All voices in the same direction!
Parents, teachers, social workers, medicines, etc
More need for training!
Civil society, consumer organizations, alcohol industry, social & cultural sector, …
Little progress in the field of alcohol prevention is expected unless public awareness is high
Community readiness!
Uniform message ≠ harmonized strategies