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CRISIS TALKS
Harm Reduction International’s (HRI) 23rd
international conference will be held in Vilnius,
Lithuania, on 9-12 June 2013. The event – which
is being organised in partnership with the
Eurasian Harm Reduction Network – will look at
the urgent need for political and financial support
to address the HIV epidemic being driven by
injecting drug use in many parts of the world, as
well as ‘the ethical basis of the harm reduction
philosophy’.
Visit www.ihra.net/conference for
more information.
OPEN DOOR POLICY
Alcoholics Anonymous is inviting treatment staff,
doctors and other medical professionals to
attend its open meetings throughout November,
with the aim of providing a greater understanding
of how the fellowship works.
Open meetings are
listed at www.alcoholics-anonymous.org.uk – to
attend call 020 7833 0022 or the national
helpline on 0845 769 7555.
FAMILIAL EXPRESSION
Adfam has launched its annual writing
competition for families affected by substance
use. Entries for Family Voices 2012 – which
should be a maximum of 500 words – can be
emailed to familyvoices@adfam.org.uk or posted
to Adfam, 25 Corsham Street, London N1 6DR.
The winner will receive £150, two runners up will
receive £100 each and all will be able to see
their winning entries presented by a celebrity
guest at the Adfam carol concert in December.
BENEFIT BOOST
Action on Addiction has been awarded a three-
year grant by international risk specialist and
employee benefits consultant group Jardine Lloyd
Thompson (JLT). The money will be invested
across the organisation’s treatment and family
support services and will also help fund training.
JLT will also work alongside Action on Addiction to
pilot workplace awareness schemes and look at
how businesses can support employees affected
by addiction. ‘The workplace is an important, but
currently under-utilised, channel for addressing
misunderstandings about addiction and providing
people with information and support,’ said Action
on Addiction chief executive Nick Barton. Action
on Addiction has also launched the annual
Merseyside Recovery Awards, to be held at
flagship social enterprise and ‘dry’ bar, The Brink
(
DDN
, December 2011, page 12) on 27 October.
www.recoveryawards.co.uk thebrinkliverpool.com
QUESTION THE COUNCIL
The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs
(ACMD) is holding an open meeting in London
on 11 October, with attendees able to put their
own questions.
Places will be allocated on a first
come, first served basis – registration forms at
www. homeo f f i ce . gov. uk/agenc i es - pub l i c -
bodies/acmd
Rates of premature death from liver disease are
higher in the North West than anywhere else in
England and are also increasing at a faster rate,
according to a report from the North West Public
Health Observatory. Rates of premature mortality
from liver disease in the region in 2010 were nearly
double those in 1995, says
Burden of liver disease
and inequalities in the North West of England
.
The peak ages of liver disease death in the North
West are 55-64 years for both men and women, with
alcohol-related liver disease accounting for the greatest
proportion. Death rates from alcohol-related liver
disease were also highest in the region’s most deprived
local authority areas.
Prevalence of hepatitis C among injecting drug users
also remains higher in the North West, with hospital
admissions for hepatitis C increasing from less than
3,000 in 2005 to almost 5,000 in 2010. Admission rates
among males were double those among females, with
75 per cent of all cases the result of sharing
contaminated injecting equipment.
The report is also unlikely to do justice to the ‘full
burden’ of liver disease in the region, it adds, as
hospital admission data ‘represent the most severe
cases of liver disease and do not include people treated
in primary care or outpatient departments where the
majority of people with liver disease are treated’.
‘The premature and avoidable mortality’ caused by liver
disease as well as the gap between the North West and
the rest of England ‘indicate the scale and urgency of the
problem,’ the report concludes, calling for liver disease
action to be made a priority for the region’s
commissioners. It also wants to see better strategies for
early diagnosis, improved surveillance to address
information gaps and better use of local intelligence to
target the populations most at risk. Prevention efforts
should also target groups ‘whose current behaviours put
them at risk of progression to chronic liver disease’, such
as young women, it states.
Meanwhile, a new report from the Children’s
Commissioner states that more than 2.5m children in the
UK are living with a hazardous drinker and more than
700,000 with a dependent drinker. Just over 950,000
children live with at least two binge drinkers, says S
ilent
voices: supporting children and young people affected
by parental alcohol misuse
, while just under 460,000 live
with a lone parent who is a binge drinker.
Children living with parental alcohol misuse come to
the attention of services later than children living with
parental drug misuse, says the report, and the true size
of the problem ‘remains unknown’. The document calls
for more policy focus on ‘the wide group of children in
need of support as a result of parental alcohol misuse’
rather than just those in need of protection, as well as
policies and strategies that ‘take into account the
impact on children who may be affected by a range of
levels of parental alcohol consumption and not just
dependent drinkers’.
The links between parental alcohol misuse and
domestic violence also need to be taken into account in
policy development at local and national level, it says,
while the new health and wellbeing boards must make
sure that parental alcohol misuse is well understood in
their area.
The report signalled ‘a growing awareness amongst
policy advisors that you don't have to be addicted to a
substance to suffer from alcohol or drug misuse’, said
Action on Addiction chief executive Nick Barton, while
Turning Point said it highlighted the need for better
information. ‘We are aware that the provision of services
for families for alcohol misuse is patchy and we know that
this needs to change,’ said director of substance misuse
services Jackie Kennedy. ‘For us the key lies in replicating
services that have already proved effective; focusing on
family focused substance misuse services, partnership
working and home-based services for families. We need
more services to meet the needs of parents to prevent a
new generation of children at risk of poor mental health,
drug and alcohol addictions, truancy and worse.’
Burden of liver disease at www.nwph.net/nwpho
Silent voices at www.childrenscommissioner.gov.uk
4 |
drinkanddrugsnews
| October 2012
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
North West tops alcohol-
related liver deaths table
News |
Round-up
NEWS IN
BRIEF
‘Children living with parental
alcohol misuse come to the
attention of services later
than children living with
parental drug misuse, and
the true size of the problem
“remains unknown”.’