This international event took place in the Arabella Sheraton Hotel in the centre of Cape Town. It was organised by Quest for Quality (Q4Q) and the University of Limpopo. IHRA was a co-organiser. About 200 people from over 30 countries attended the conference, including practitioners, policy-makers, researchers and alcohol industry representatives, and a large number of people from all over Africa. There were keynote speeches, presentations, workshops, debates and round-table discussions on a wide range of alcohol harm reduction topics.
Against the idyllic backdrop of Table Mountain and Cape Town, the conference providing in-depth (and, at times, tough talking) analysis and discussion of how harm reduction principles can be applied to alcohol related harms, 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. Keynote speeches included an introductory overview of the field by Professor Gerry Stimson (IHRA Executive Director), an analysis of targeted interventions by Marjana Martinic (International Center for Alcohol Policies), and showcased examples of best practice in terms of industry involvement (Chan Makan from ARA in South Africa), server training (Jack Law from Alcohol Focus Scotland), and student drinking (Florence Kerr-Correa from Sao Paulo State University in Brazil).
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.
In addition to these sessions, there was also room for a lively debate on effective partnerships, a “Hear Your Peers” (HYPE) session (where delegates were filmed talking about their thoughts and experiences), a formal conference dinner, and lots and lots of networking with likeminded people from all over the world.
The 4th International Conference on Alcohol and Harm Reduction will be in 2008, possible in Asia. More details, including the slides from the keynote speeches and video material from the HYPE session, can be found at
www.alcoholconference.org The IHRA website and e-newsletters will keep you briefed about further developments in the area of alcohol and harm reduction.
The high level of attendance from African delegates reflects the growing interest in the continent for harm reduction in general. IHRA is committed to developing harm reduction in Africa and identifying key partners from the region in order to develop a harm reduction network and knowledge hubs. If you are interested in this up-and-coming project, please contact IHRA.
