EU-US Civil Society Dialogues on Underage Drinking

The project is part of the European Commission's Directorate General for External Relations Programme on Transatlantic Civil Society Dialogue EU-US. The work is developed within the field of public health with experts from academia and civil society organisations in alcohol control and alcohol consumption in the United States and Europe.


The aim of the project is to develop closer transatlantic ties between civil society organisations in US and EU and develop an increased understanding of the issues relating to underage drinking and harms of adolescents.

The project aims to foster collaboration between civil society experts and organisations in the United States and Europe to develop an increased understanding on what are the issues relating to underage drinking, the effects on adolescents, the problems for individuals, groups and communities and identifying mechanisms for control. 

The objectives identified include:
1) To identify research on the implications of underage drinking on adolescent development, and long term impacts (including as far as appropriate an indication of how costing the impacts might be undertaken). 
2) To identify public health surveillance mechanisms for underage drinking, potential risk factors, (and protective factors) and down-stream effects. To consider how to identify as far as possible distributional effects (e.g. by educational status).
3) To explore policy options including minimum age policy, regulation of alcohol products and marketing, the density of outlets and also look at harm reduction strategies re accidents and injuries, and supporting families, and enforcement of alcohol policy.

The project was working around four key themes with different aims and products n alcohol control, based on experiences from the United States and Europe.
1. Research/data collection/evaluation and monitoring
2. message framing-both macro and local level.
3. Advocacy strategies and models
4. Policy and enforcement - identifying best practices.