Grant: Planning and Dissemination Grant - Institute Community Support

Alcohol use caused an estimated three million deaths globally in 2016. To reduce the health burden caused by alcohol use, numerous countries provide guidance on alcohol use and health. Given the heterogeneity in the methods used to formulate guidance documents and drawing on the development process used to establish Canada's new lower-risk drinking guidance, we intend to form an international alcohol, health and guidance network. This network will work towards formulating a standardized set of methods to determine drinking risk levels and, in turn, to effectively communicate the health impact of alcohol use. To accomplish these goals, the grant will support a meeting of stakeholders, to achieve the following objectives: 1.To update the 2016 systematic review of guidance on alcohol and health. This review will summarize current guidance documents on alcohol and health and conduct an assessment of scientific quality in terms of how this advice was formulated. 2.To discuss current strategies used to formulate guidance on alcohol use and health, and the strengths and limitations of these strategies. 3.To discuss current strategies used to communicate guidance on alcohol use and health, and the strengths and limitations of these strategies. 4.To create a report and a peer-reviewed publication, both of which will highlight current approaches to formulating and communicating guidance on alcohol use and health. 5.To form an international network of stakeholders to provide advice on formulating and communicating guidance on alcohol use and health. 6.To integrate a sex and gender lens into the entire process, including an assessment of how sex/gender has been, and should be considered in the development of alcohol use recommendations from methodological, analytic and communication standpoints. These activities will be crucial for improving and directing the future development of guidance on alcohol and health.