Campaign: "Against the Abuse of Alcohol"

The campaign strategy included the following activities:

• Social mobilisation (demonstrations by cadets and school groups on highways and gathering places).
• Information and public communication (interviews and press conferences, radio and television messages).
• Inter-institutional coordination (Health Department, Police Department and PAHO developed and maintained a national programme).

During the Carnival festivals more specific activities were carried out in an effort to reinforce the main messages:

• Breathalyser tests on the main highways of the country to detect drunk drivers.
• Toxicological analysis of samples of alcoholic beverages in the National Institutes of Laboratories [Institutos Nacionales de Laboratorios] (In a pilot test carried out in 2005 was found that the 100% of the samples of beverages adulterated contained methanol).
• Dissemination of information on how to recognise adulterated beverages that may have deadly effects on human health.

This campaign was technically advised by PAHO. The advisory work was the basis for the formulation of a position and specific actions related to:

• Responsible Behaviour of Adults:
  • Promoting social control in terms of providing alcoholic drinks to children;
  • Increasing sale prices;
  • Reducing purchasing locations;
  • Moving purchasing locations away from schools and universities;
  • Creating coordinating institutions;
  • Establishing a mechanism to assign resources; and
  • Creating alliances to enforce restrictions.
• Development and Fulfillment of Legal Standards:
  • Advertising and information standards;
  • Production and protection standards;
  • Promotion and selling standards;
  • Consumption standards; and
  • Sanctions regarding regulation and creation of a committee engaged with follow up to the fullfillment, ongoing promotion and improvement of existing standards
• Social Norms Changes:
  • Social control on advertising/promotion; and
  • Development of communication strategies for parents and family within schools, universities and communities.
• Control Strategies:
  • Municipal/departmental standards;
  • Training for people that serve and sell alcohol;
  • Sanctions for driving incidents; and
  • Censorship of alcohol promotions.

Health, Alcohol Abuse.

In Bolivia, as studied of the Latin-American Center of Scientific Investigation - CELIN (Investigation Nº 31, 2005), the prevalence of the consumption of alcohol in people 12-years of age and older is 42.5%, which equals 1,390,172 people. This implies that one out of every two Bolivians habitually consumes an alcoholic beverage.

According to the implementers, the use of alcohol in Bolivia is an important factor in homicides, traffic accidents, suicides, violence (including domestic violence), and child abuse and neglect. The statistics justify the campaign, which sought to influence public policy in order to counteract the problem.