Alcohol control policies in Former Soviet Union countries: A narrative review of three decades of policy changes and their apparent effects
Neufeld M. Bobrova A. Davletov K. Štelemėkas M. Stoppel R. Ferreira-Borges C. Breda J. Rehm J.
March 2021Blackwell Publishing
Drug and Alcohol Review
2021#40Issue 3350 - 367 pp.
Issues: The last Soviet anti-alcohol campaign of 1985 resulted in considerably reduced alcohol consumption and saved thousands of lives. But once the campaigns 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 campaigns 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 different jurisdictions. Conclusion: Strong declines in alcohol consumption were observed in the 15 FSU countries, which have introduced various alcohol control measures in recent years, resulting in a reduction of alcohol consumption in the World Health Organization European region overall.
alcohol , alcohol policy , Eastern Europe , Former Soviet Union , mortality
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WHO European Office for Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases, Moscow, Russian Federation
Institute for Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy, TU Dresden, Dresden, Germany
Institute for Mental Health Policy Research, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada
Institute of Economics, National Academy of Sciences, Minsk, Belarus
Health Research Institute, Faculty of Medicine, Al-Farabi Kazakh National University Almaty, Almaty, Kazakhstan
Health Research Institute, Faculty of Public Health, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania
Department of Preventive Medicine, Faculty of Public Health, Lithuanian University of Health Sciences, Kaunas, Lithuania
Department of Economics, University of Potsdam, Potsdam, Germany
Center for Interdisciplinary Addiction Research, Department of Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany
Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute, Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Toronto, Canada
Department of Psychiatry, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
Department of International Health Projects, Institute for Leadership and Health Management, Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University), Moscow, Russian Federation
WHO European Office for Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases
Institute for Clinical Psychology and Psychotherapy
Institute for Mental Health Policy Research
Institute of Economics
Health Research Institute
Health Research Institute
Department of Preventive Medicine
Department of Economics
Center for Interdisciplinary Addiction Research
Campbell Family Mental Health Research Institute
Department of Psychiatry
Dalla Lana School of Public Health
Department of International Health Projects
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