Alcohol Drinking and Young People in Lebanon: Potential Solutions to Delay Initiation and Reduce Harm

Abstract

The K2P Policy Dialogue, conducted on January 27, 2017, hosted 22 diverse stakeholders from multi-disciplinary backgrounds. These included representatives from Ministry of Public Health (MOPH), Ministry of Youth and Sports (MOYS), Ministry of Social Affairs (MOSA), Ministry of Economy and Trade (MOET), Ministry of Tourism (MOT), Ministry of Interior (MOI), Ministry of Finance (MOF), International agencies (such as the World Health Organization), national agencies and programs, civil society groups, and non-governmental organizations, The Alcohol Harm Reduction Research Group (AUB). The policy dialogue was facilitated by Dr. Fadi El-Jardali, the Director of the K2P Center, in the presence of Dr. Walid Ammar, the Director General of the MOPH. Dialogue participants discussed the overall framing of the problem of alcohol drinking among youth. All participants acknowledged the existence of the problem and agreed on the need to focus on the many factors that are leading to the problem. They highlighted the importance of framing the problem of alcohol drinking and the relevant harm reduction policies around “youth” as the issue of alcohol has broader societal factors making it difficult to be tackled unless the goal was harm reduction among youth.