The harmful use of alcohol has both short-term and long-term health effects, including injury, alcohol dependence, and other chronic conditions such as high blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases, cirrhosis of the liver, types of dementia, mental health problems and various cancers (Laslett et al. 2011). Alcohol use during pregnancy is also associated with adverse perinatal outcomes, such as foetal alcohol syndrome and alcohol-related birth defects and developmental disorders.
Australian governments have had strategies to minimise alcohol-related harm in place for a number of decades. These include:
- legislation (such as placing restrictions on the times and places that alcohol can be purchased)
- taxation on alcoholic products
- regulating promotion and advertising
- providing education and information
- supporting treatment programs (ANPHA 2014).
The National Health and Medical Research Council provides guidelines about alcohol use to help people make informed choices about reducing their health risks from alcohol. The most recent version of the guidelines, Australian guidelines to reduce health risks from drinking alcohol, was released in 2020 (NHMRC 2020).
References
ANPHA (Australian National Preventive Health Agency) (2014), Alcohol advertising: the effectiveness of current regulatory codes in addressing community concern, ANPHA, accessed 21 June 2024.
Laslett AM, Room R & Ferris J (2011) Surveying the range and magnitude of alcohol's harm to others in Australia, Addiction 106(9):1603–1611.
NHMRC (National Health and Medical Research Council) (2020) Australian Guidelines to Reduce Health Risks from Drinking Alcohol, Australian Government, accessed 4 July 2024.
