IHRA supports and organises a range of events each year – including the biennial International Conference on Alcohol and Harm Reduction, and our own international harm reduction conferences (formerly known as the ‘International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm’). These events aim to promote alcohol harm reduction and provide a focal point for knowledge sharing, networking, and promoting evidence-based best practice in the field. This section reviews the key conferences from the last few years.
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Click here to view the forthcoming alcohol harm reduction events
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2007
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18th International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm
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2006
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3rd International Conference on Alcohol and Harm Reduction
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17th International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm
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2005
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16th International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm
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2004
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2nd International Conference on Alcohol and Harm Reduction
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2002
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1st International Conference on Alcohol and Harm Reduction
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18th International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm
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This was IHRA’s 18th international conference and took place in May 2007 in Warsaw, Poland. The five-day event was attended by well in excess of 1,200 people from a record 89 countries around the world. Alcohol harm reduction featured prominently throughout the conference and, in particular, there was a major session and a symposium session on the topic.
In the conference opening session, Professor Gerry Stimson (the IHRA Executive Director) reflected on the conference theme - “Harm Reduction Coming of Age” – and how it “reminds us of what has been achieved so far, what is still left to achieve, and how to take harm reduction forward”. Professor Stimson then went on to specifically discuss alcohol harm reduction:
“Whilst harm reduction is most closely associated with blood borne viruses, it is also an approach that can be applied to all psychoactive drugs. For example, alcohol harm reduction focuses on specific problems associated with drinking. It targets high-risk drinking behaviours, drinking contexts and population groups. It has a very strong evidence and practice base covering such things as drink driving, server training, the management of public space, the management of the night time economy, the management of bars and other drinking venues, product quality control, and harm reduction treatments which aim for moderation in drinking.”
The major session entitled “Alcohol: Practical Harm Reduction” was very well attended by over 300 delegates, and overviewed the key interventions and arguments in the field. Firstly, Marjana Martinic from the International Center for Alcohol Policies outlined the need for targeted interventions as opposed to population-level approaches, concluding that “Good alcohol policy is the art of the possible”. Secondly, Jack Law from Alcohol Focus Scotland described his organisation’s server training programme. Thirdly, David Silcock from the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP) overviewed the best practice for reducing drinking and driving, as demonstrated through the GRSP guidance manual. Finally, Moruf Adelekan described the problems associated with non-commercial (home made) alcohol in Kenya.
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 Click here to view Marjana Martinic’s presentation [PDF:697KB]
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Click here to view Jack Law’s presentation [PDF:480KB]
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Click here to view David Silcock’s presentation [PDF:169KB]
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Click here to view Moruf Adelekan’s presentation [PDF:591KB]
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Straight after this major session, a symposium session took place on “Local Responses to Alcohol Harms”, in which Tony Duffin (Ireland), Bruna Machioro (Brazil), Fredrik Welander (Australia) and Clare Lushey (England) outlined targeted interventions being delivered in their local communities.
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Click here to view Tony Duffin’s presentation [PDF:104KB]
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Click here to view Bruna Machiori’s presentation [PDF:283KB]
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Click here to view Fredrik Welander’s presentation [PDF:2.69KB]
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Click here to view Clare Lushey’s presentation [PDF:75KB]
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Overall, the conference was a great success and we now look forward to next year’s event, scheduled for May 11th – 15th 2008 in Barcelona, Spain. This next conference is entitled “Harm Reduction 2008”, and will one again include a significant alcohol track throughout. Please visit the new conference website – www.IHRAconferences.net – for more information.
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3rd International Conference on Alcohol and Harm Reduction
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This conference, organised by Quest for Quality and the University of Limpopo (with IHRA as a co-organising partner), took place in October 2006 in Cape Town, South Africa. There were around 200 delegates from over 30 countries at the event, including many representatives from Latin America and Africa. The attendees included practitioners, policy-makers, researchers and alcohol industry representatives. There were keynote speeches, presentations, workshops, debates and round-table discussions on a wide range of alcohol harm reduction topics.
The conference’s aim was to introduce, evaluate, debate and create realistic and concrete solutions to alcohol problems. In his opening speech, the Conference President, Ernst Buning, stressed the role of the harm reduction movement in putting alcohol higher on the public agenda. Professor Gerry Stimson (IHRA Executive Director) delivered a keynote speech providing an introductory overview of the field.
The round-table discussions on the Monday (23rd) and Wednesday (25th) highlighted the issues of alcohol and young people, and how to turn policy and rhetoric into practice. On the Tuesday (24th), a “Special Session Focus on Africa” concentrated specifically on the situation in Africa, with presentations from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Egypt and Kenya.
Each afternoon featured smaller working groups, where between 20 and 60 people gathered to discuss specific issues on alcohol (such as young people, public-private partnerships, sexual behaviour and gender issues, translating research into practice, and drink-driving). The outcomes from these working groups were presented on the final day.
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Click here to download the official conference report [PDF:934KB]
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Click here for more details
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17th International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm
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This was IHRA’s 17th International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm took place in Vancouver, Canada from April 30th to May 4th 2006. The 5-day event was attended by 1,300 delegates from over 60 countries and included keynote speeches, 7 plenary sessions, 8 major sessions, 42 concurrent sessions and hundreds of poster presentations.
The afternoon plenary session on Wednesday May 3rd 2007 was entitled “Alcohol: A Legal Epidemic” and was very well attended. Firstly, Dr. Isidore Obot (World Health Organization) gave a presentation on the available WHO alcohol data and commented on the “accumulating evidence which suggests that effective strategies to reduce the harm caused by alcohol, but are often disregarded in favour of less promising approaches”. This was followed by a presentation by Professor Wei Hao (Second Xiangya Hospital, China) which documented the recent increases in alcohol consumption, dependence and harms in a country where alcohol is a traditional part of culture and life dating back to 9000 years ago. Finally, Dr. Kathryn Graham (Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, Canada) gave a succinct presentation on how the causal links between alcohol use and violence can be effectively managed and reduced by manipulating the social context of drinking through practical harm reduction measures. Overall, the session provided an interesting overview of the scale of alcohol abuse and problems around the modern world, and gave the delegates a lot of food for thought in terms of potential interventions and approaches to curb this “epidemic”.
Earlier that same day, a concurrent session entitled “Alcohol and Harm Reduction” took place and showcased practice and research from Australia and USA – including services for homeless alcohol dependents and a primary healthcare screening programme.
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16th International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm
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This was IHRA’s 16th international harm reduction conference, and took place in Belfast, Northern Ireland from the 20th to 24th March 2005. The 4-day event was attended by over 1,000 delegates from all over the world. Although previous IHRA conferences had included some presentations on alcohol, this was the first conference to have alcohol harm reduction as such a major theme in line with the conference theme - “Widening the Agenda.
On Tuesday 22nd March 2005, the day’s programme was opened with a plenary session entitled “Alcohol and Tobacco”, which included a critique from Professor Robin Davidson of the large-scale alcohol treatment trials that were taking place, and a summary from Dr. Tim Stockwell on what the concept of alcohol harm reduction actually means, and how it can be combined with demand and supply reduction to create “the strongest cocktail” of interventions.
This was followed by a major session entitled “Harm Reduction and Alcohol – Time for a Paradigm Shift”, which outlined the role that harm reduction could play in international alcohol policies and approaches. This session contained the following presentations:
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- Professor G. Alan Marlatt (USA) - “The controlled drinking controversy: Harm reduction and the treatment of alcohol abuse and alcoholism”
- Helen White (USA) – “Reduction of alcohol-related harm on a US college campus”
- Barbara O’Donnell (Scotland) – “Reducing harm: Responsibility – Changing Culture”
- Dr. Tim Stockwell (Canada) – “Alcohol supply, demand and harm reduction – What is the strongest cocktail?”
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On the closing day of the conference, there was a further concurrent session entitled “Perspectives on Alcohol #2”, which included presentations on a European alcohol awareness education programme (Helmut Wagner & Carole Brigaudeau), how the harm reduction movement must widen it’s agenda to include alcohol (Ernst Buning & Monica Gorgulho), the motivations behind risky alcohol use (Bosco Rowland), and binge drinking amongst Australian women (Sharon Matthews, Susan Clemens & Susan Donath).
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2nd International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm
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This event, co-sponsored by ICAHRE, was held in August 2004 in Warsaw, Poland. It was attended by more than 200 participants from 30 different countries, who all took part in discussions around the conference theme – ‘New challenges in a changing world’. Delegates were from a wide range of professional backgrounds, including hospitals, universities, NGOs, governments, and the alcohol industry.
The conference lasted for three days – each with a theme question for the day. The delegates worked towards a common goal - to create a pragmatic and realistic plan of action on alcohol and harm reduction for specialists and professionals who work in the field.
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Click here to download the official conference report [PDF:710KB]
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Click here for more details
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1st International Conference on the Reduction of Drug Related Harm
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This event was entitled ‘Towards a comprehensive alcohol policy in countries in transition and developing countries’, and was held in Recife, Brazil in August 2002. It was a three day event attended by 570 people – including representatives from Latin America, Africa and Central and Eastern Europe. The conference provided a perfect opportunity for sharing best practice, knowledge and experiences. The aim of the event was to assist participants in the development of alcohol harm reduction interventions and policies in their respective countries and communities.
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Click here for more details (English)
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Click here for more details (Portuguese)
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