In collaboration with WHO and the relevant Ministries, Departments and Agencies (MDAs), the Ministry of Health is implementing the SAFER initiative through facilitating access to screening, conducting brief interventions, providing treatment to patients and other interventions.
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The SAFER initiative
A world free from alcohol related harm
Every 10 seconds a person dies from alcohol-related causes. WHO, in collaboration with international partners, launched the SAFER initiative in 2018. "SAFER" is an acronym for the 5 most cost effective interventions to reduce alcohol related harm.
SAFER Africa inter-country learning
The SAFER interventions
Strengthen restrictions on alcohol availability
Enacting and enforcing restrictions on commercial or public availability of alcohol through laws, policies, and programmes are important ways to reduce harmful use of alcohol. Such strategies provide essential measures to prevent easy access to alcohol
by young people and other vulnerable and high-risk groups.
Advance and enforce drink driving counter measures
Road users who are impaired by alcohol have a significantly higher risk of being involved in a crash. Enacting and enforcing strong drink-driving laws and low blood alcohol concentration limits via sobriety checkpoints and random breath testing will help to turn the tide.
Facilitate access to screening, brief interventions and treatment
Health professionals have an important role in helping people to reduce or stop their drinking to reduce health risks, and health services have to provide effective interventions for those in need of help and their families.
Enforce bans or comprehensive restrictions on alcohol advertising, sponsorship, and promotion
Bans and comprehensive restrictions on alcohol advertising, sponsorship and promotion are impactful and cost-effective measures. Enacting and enforcing bans or comprehensive restrictions on exposure to them in the digital world will bring public health benefits and help protect children, adolescents and abstainers from the pressure to start consuming alcohol.
Raise prices on alcohol through excise taxes and pricing policies
Alcohol taxation and pricing policies are among the most effective and cost-effective alcohol control measures. An increase in excise taxes on alcoholic beverages is a proven measure to reduce harmful use of alcohol and it provides governments revenue to offset the economic costs of harmful use of alcohol.
SAFER News
As part of the ambitious SAFER initiative to tackle alcohol-related problems, in collaboration with WHO, 17 addiction treatment specialists held a five-day workshop to draft a manual to guide the screening and management of people affected by hazardous drinking and alcohol use disorders.
Nepal formally launched its partnership with WHO and other partners to implement SAFER, an alcohol control initiative, for the prevention and reduction of alcohol-related harm and deaths. With this, the country will now scale up action to implement high-impact and cost-effective strategies and interventions in accordance with Nepal's alcohol control priorities.
The Ministry of Health and Population, the World Health Organization, and global and civil society partner organizations announced an ambitious roadmap for reducing alcohol-related harms in Nepal.
Multimedia
Social media
SAFER publications
11 December 2019
The SAFER technical package
- five areas of intervention at national and subnational levels.
27 September 2018
The SAFER brochure
WHO, in collaboration with international partners, launched the SAFER initiative towards a world free from alcohol related harm in 2018. This brochure...
Background publications
Global alcohol action plan 2022-2030
Global status report on alcohol and health and treatment of substance use disorders
Global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol
Tackling NCDs: best buys and other recommended interventions for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases, 2nd ed
Articles (external)
Prioritising action on alcohol for health and development
BMJ 2019;367:l6162
The IARC Perspective on the Effects of Policies on Reducing Alcohol Consumption
N Engl J Med. 2025 May 1;392(17):1752-1759
Health and cancer risks associated with low levels of alcohol consumption
The Lancet Public Health, Volume 8, Issue 1, e6 - e7
SAFER partners
The SAFER Secretariat:
Dr Nicholas Banatvala
Head of Secretariat, UN Interagency Task Force on the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases (NCDs).
Mr Dag Rekve
Senior Technical Officer, Acting Unit Head, Alcohol, Drugs and Addictive Behaviours
Email: rekved@who.int