Governments can mitigate the harms of alcohol use through an intersectoral public health approach. Such approaches include restrictions on availability and marketing of alcohol, higher taxes on alcohol, enforcement of drink-driving laws, and brief psychosocial treatments for AUDs . These are both cost-effective and have differential impacts on poorer drinkers and therefore can counteract the health inequity inherent to the burden of alcohol-related harms .
Alcohol policy environments vary significantly across the world—67% of high-income countries, 43% of middle-income countries and only 15% of low-income countries have national alcohol policies . Most of these policies do not place any restrictions on alcohol advertising and marketing, with “smaller countries, globally, and countries in Africa and the Americas most likely to have no restrictions”