Analysis of Drinking-Related Socioeconomic Costs and Cost Effectiveness of Drinking prevention Policy
Promoting public health is one of the critical enablers of not only better living standards and economic well-being on an individual household level but also in poverty reduction, economic growth, and long-term economic development on a national level. This is in line with the 2007 report by World Economic Forum, which argued that chronic ailment clearly constitutes one of the 23 global risks and chronic diseases, when compared with other risks, has considerably higher correlation with the severity of economic loss. 1)In Korea, disease-related socioeconomic cost is showing a continuous growth trend every year, acting as a socioeconomic burden to the nation (Jung Young Ho 2009)2) 3). Given growing expectation on higher living standards and life expectancy, growing burden from chronic ailment is likely to make prevention and medical treatment all the more important. One study found out that the cost of illness originating from drinking, among this disease-related socioeconomic cost, accounts for 8.58% of total cost of illness of the population of at least 20 years old (Jung Young Ho et. al., 2006) 4). In other words, drinking (8.58%) is second only to smoking (9.12%) as the driver of the cost of illness resulting from various health risks like smoking, drinking, insufficient exercise, obesity, hypertension, high cholesterol, and environmental pollution. What this finding points out is that abstaining or drinking in moderation can help in saving drinking-related socioeconomic costs. Monthly drinking rate in 2010 was 77.8% for men and 43.3% for women, which has continuously surged since 2005 for men. 5) It is clear that drinking results not only in physical and psychological harm to an individual but also harm to the family, job, and economic activities of the entire society. The harm drinking inflicts is not only confined to health. It is the major culprit behind the loss in productive population from premature deaths caused by diseases; drinking-related accidents or crimes; productivity loss such as absences or inefficiency at workplace attributable to drinking; dissolution of family; domestic violence; and child abuse. Against this backdrop, the government drafted and implemented 'The Blue Bird Plan 2010' in 2006, a strategy designed to cut damage from drinking on a national level. But it has failed to be a viable initiative owing to insufficient administrative measures and resources available to actually put this policy into practice. 6) Socioeconomic damage from drinking is on the increase every year and there is a need to understand the precise cost involved in policy making. This report intends to lay the groundwork for the national strategy necessary to prevent drinking-related harm by estimating drinking-related socioeconomic costs and cost effectiveness of a drinking-related damage prevention project. CHAPTER 1 Introduction CHAPTER 2 Drinking-related socioeconomic costs 1. Method to estimate drinking-related socioeconomic costs CHAPTER 3 Cost Effectiveness Analysis of Drinking Damage Prevention Project: Focus on Brief Intervention 1. Previous cost effectiveness studies on brief intervention (BI) to prevent damage from drinking 2. Cost effectiveness analysis of drinking damage prevention project 3. Analysis of Cost Effectiveness CHAPTER 4 Conclusion References Appendix