The opportunities for and obstacles against prevention: The example of Germany in the areas of tobacco and alcohol

Walter, Ulla, Suhrcke, Marc, Gerlich, Miriam G. and Boluarte, Till A. (2010) The opportunities for and obstacles against prevention: The example of Germany in the areas of tobacco and alcohol. BMC Public Health, 10. ISSN 1471-2458

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Abstract

Background: Recent years have seen a growing research and policy interest in prevention in many developed countries. However, the actual efforts and resources devoted to prevention appear to have lagged well behind the lip service paid to the topic. Discussion: We review the evidence on the considerable existing scope for health gains from prevention as well as for greater prevention policy efforts in Germany. We also discuss the barriers to "more and better" prevention and provide modest suggestions about how some of the obstacles could be overcome. Summary: In Germany, there are substantial health gains to be reaped from the implementation of evidence-based, cost-effective preventive interventions and policies. Barriers to more prevention include social, historical, political, legal and economic factors. While there is sufficient evidence to scale up prevention efforts in some public health domains in Germany, in general there is a comparative shortage of research on non-clinical preventive interventions. Some of the existing barriers in Germany are at least in principle amenable to change, provided sufficient political will exists. More research on prevention by itself is no panacea, but could help facilitate more policy action. In particular, there is an economic efficiency-based case for public funding and promotion of research on non-clinical preventive interventions, in Germany and beyond, to confront the peculiar challenges that set this research apart from its clinical counterpart.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	sdg 3 - good health and well-being ,/dk/atira/pure/sustainabledevelopmentgoals/good_health_and_well_being
Faculty \ School:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Norwich Medical School
UEA Research Groups:	Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Health Economics Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences > Research Groups > Public Health and Health Services Research (former - to 2023)
Depositing User:	Val Knights
Date Deposited:	21 Jul 2011 12:20
Last Modified:	23 Oct 2022 01:43
URI:	https://ueaeprints.uea.ac.uk/id/eprint/34027
DOI:	10.1186/1471-2458-10-500

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