Governments in Southern Africa made the right choice to ban or restrict availability of alcohol during their COVID-19 lockdown periods, Southern African Alcohol Policy Alliance claims. SAAPA supported these decisions. 

We appeal to governments to give the care for children and youth the highest priority when implementing national policies. This was presented as a challenge to all countries of the world when Dag Endal from FORUT addressed the Commission on Narcotic Drugs in Vienna.

Despite laws and mechanism for protection of women in India, most women in the urban slums of Bangalore and Hyderabad in India are unable to access help in abusive situations because of socio-cultural and structural factors. The Association for Promoting Social Action (APSA) has pioneered in the first pilot training in India based on the manual Mental health and gender-based violence and will use the tool to address domestic violence in their 280 Self-Help Groups. The bottom-up/top-down perspective in the manual is a powerful tool for change. 

As the first country in the world, Norway launches a strategy to combat Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs) in low-income countries as part of Norway's development aid. The government's new strategy focuses on important target areas and effective measures. Now the strategy must be operationalised and put into action.

We have effective strategies to reduce harmful use of alcohol. Now they must be implemented, says a recent article in The BMJ written by Dag Rekve and colleagues. The article reviews the lack of, and barriers to, implementation of evidence-based cost effective interventions, especially in low and middle income countries.