Alcohol use has been identified as a major risk factor for the global burden of mortality and morbidity. Due to the overall high level of alcohol use, combined with a high prevalence of irregular binge-drinking patterns, Eastern Europe was found to be one of the regions with the highest burden of alcohol-attributable disease and mortality globally.
Consequently over the last decade, a number of alcohol policies recommended as part of WHO’s “best buys”, policies that are effective and cost-effective, have been implemented in Lithuania.
The aim of the current project, funded by NIAAA (grant no. 1R01AA028224) is to evaluate the effect of these policies across a variety of outcomes including and not limited to mortality and morbidity, alcohol-related harm, alcohol consumption, and economic costs. In addition, we aim to compare the temporal trends and changes in these outcome measures to other neighbouring Baltic states.