Retrieved from Girls, Women, Alcohol, and Pregnancy
Over the past few years, there has been increasing attention to how alcohol policy can be used to improve health, including maternal and fetal health. Alcohol policies are critical because they determine the availability of alcohol and other aspects of the environment in which decisions about drinking are made, in the preconception and perinatal periods.
In Canada, a four-part model of FASD prevention has been developed that includes a continuum of multi-sectoral efforts. In this model, supportive alcohol policy is at the centre of the four mutually reinforcing levels of prevention, inclusive of awareness raising and multi-level interventions reaching women and their support networks at various levels of risk.
With the increased interest in alcohol policy and its role in FASD and reducing alcohol use in pregnancy, the Canada FASD Research Network hosted a three-part webinar series on alcohol policy that brought together speakers to talk about the state of alcohol policies in Canada, how Canada’s Guidance on Alcohol and Health was developed and opportunities for collaborative alcohol policies. In this blog, we’ll explore some of the highlights of the webinar series and share links to watch the webinars.
An Introduction to the Canadian Alcohol Policy Evaluation and Implications for FASD
In the first webinar, Elizabeth Farkouh from the Canadian Institute for Substance Use and Addiction presented on the Canadian Alcohol Policy Evaluation which examines the state of alcohol policy in Canada. Poignantly, she brought attention to alcohol health harms and the alcohol deficit ($-6.196 billion in 2020/21) before demonstrating how alcohol policies, including pricing and taxation, health and safety messaging, marketing and advertising, etc., are key to preventing and reducing harms, including those related to alcohol use in pregnancy.
Canada’s Guidance on Alcohol and Health: Knowledge Mobilization and Uptake Two-Years Later
In the second webinar, presenters Dr. Adam Sherk and Dr. Nancy Poole, who both were on the Scientific Advisory Committee for Canada’s Guidance on Alcohol and Health, described the development of the guidance and the importance of knowledge mobilization so that people can make informed decisions around their use. Canada’s new Guidance serves as an opportunity for us to link the ways in which we bring awareness to the risks of alcohol use in pregnancy, including through having consistent messaging on alcohol warning labels, in perinatal substance use brief interventions, and when developing community-based approaches. Dr. Nirupa Goel shared some of the ways in which the BC Centre for Substance Use and Addiction have supported this knowledge mobilization, including through their resources for clinicians and patients.
Cross-Sectoral Alcohol Policy and Healthy Beginnings: Examples from Two Provinces
In the final webinar, presenters Melanie Meuhling, Maia Graham-Derham, and Suzanne Hawkins shared how two provinces, Manitoba and Newfoundland, have harnessed policy collaboration to increase governmental and community supports for people with FASD and who may be at risk of alcohol use during pregnancy. Discussing Manitoba’s Renewed FASD Strategy, 2024 – 2029 and Newfoundland’s Provincial Alcohol Action Plan: Reducing Harms and Costs in Newfoundland and Labrador, the presenters emphasized the different foci and ways they have been able to collaborate across systems and sectors.