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ACHIEVING INTERNATIONAL PROGRESS ON ALCOHOL AND TRAFFIC SAFETY
Author(s) -
MANN ROBERT E.,
WICKENS CHRISTINE M.
Publication year - 2012
Publication title -
addiction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.424
H-Index - 193
eISSN - 1360-0443
pISSN - 0965-2140
DOI - 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2012.03857.x
Subject(s) - legislation , action (physics) , public health , poison control , suicide prevention , occupational safety and health , injury prevention , international action , call to action , human factors and ergonomics , political science , public relations , business , environmental health , medicine , law , marketing , physics , nursing , quantum mechanics
dents in these countries. Much is expected from this emerging research tradition, but there is already good evidence from studies in developed societies which show that high rates (up to 40% in New Zealand) of crash injuries are suffered by people who were not drinking [8]. That a significantly high proportion of the health and economic burden associated with drunk-driving accidents is borne by innocent passengers or pedestrians should be a sober reminder to policy makers in developing countries that the victim of drunk driving can be anyone. In subSaharan Africa the fundamental policy challenge is recognizing that a problem exists, and that the problem is amenable to effective interventions. There is reason for optimism: the global and regional strategies to reduce harmful use of alcohol developed by the World Health Organization (WHO) have led at least to serious discussions of policy strategies in many African countries, and the involvement of international nongovernmental organizations in training on evidencebased policy has helped to focus the attention of experts and policymakers on what works [9]. The gap between countries in how they respond to drinking and driving problems will remain for a long time but any country, whether in Africa or South America, can benefit from available knowledge on policy effectiveness as long as the realities of their particular contexts are always kept in view.