Alcohol control policies in Former Soviet Union countries: A narrative review of three decades of policy changes and their apparent effects

作者：Maria Neufeld, Anastacia Bobrova, Kairat Davletov, Mindaugas Štelemėkas, Relika Stoppel, Carina Ferreira‐Borges, João Breda, Jürgen Rehm · 发表于：Drug and Alcohol Review · 年份：2020 · DOI：10.1111/dar.13204 · 被引用次数：60 · 研究领域：Substance Abuse Treatment and Outcomes、Alcohol Consumption and Health Effects、Global Public Health Policies and Epidemiology

ISSUES: The last Soviet anti-alcohol campaign of 1985 resulted in considerably reduced alcohol consumption and saved thousands of lives. But once the campaign's policies were abandoned and the Soviet alcohol monopoly broken up, a steep rise in mortality was observed in many of the newly formed successor countries, although some kept their monopolies. Almost 30 years after the campaign's end, the region faces diverse challenges in relation to alcohol. APPROACH: The present narrative review sheds light on recent drinking trends and alcohol policy developments in the 15 Former Soviet Union (FSU) countries, highlighting the most important setbacks, achievements and best practices. Vignettes of alcohol control policies in Belarus, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Lithuania and Uzbekistan are presented to illustrate the recent developments. KEY FINDINGS: Over the past decade, drinking levels have declined in almost all FSU countries, paralleled by the introduction of various alcohol-control measures. The so-called three 'best buys' put forward by the World Health Organization to reduce alcohol-attributable burden (taxation and other measures to increase price, restrictions on alcohol availability and marketing) are relatively well implemented across the countries. IMPLICATIONS: In recent years, evidence-based alcohol policies have been actively implemented as a response to the enormous alcohol-attributable burden in many of the countries, although there is big variance across and within differ...