P003: Percent of county and tribal health councils that include in their plans evidence-based strategies to reduce alcohol-related harms
Current Value
11.0%
Definition
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Story Behind the Curve
- Excessive alcohol use can lead to increased risk of health problems such as injuries, violence, liver diseases, and cancer.
- Four people die of alcohol-related causes every day in New Mexico and the rate of alcohol-related mortality is increasing.
- Excessive alcohol consumption does not differ by race/ethnicity. Alcohol-related death rates are two times higher for Whites, three times higher for Black/African Americans and Hispanics, and nearly ten times higher for American Indians compared to Asian/Pacific Islanders.
- A multifactorial approach is needed to address alcohol-related harm in New Mexico. The New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) depends on partnerships with other state agencies, clinicians, community groups, and councils to expand its reach.
- NMDOH has presented to the Southwest Regional Health Council Leadership and Cochiti Pueblo Health Staff, and reaches out regularly to other tribal and county health councils. NMDOH developed a county fact sheet on alcohol with the McKinley County Health Council that can be used as a template to make other county and tribal fact sheets. NMDOH is developing county-level fact sheets to estimate the cost of excessive alcohol use for each county.
- There are many evidence-based strategies that can be implemented to reduce alcohol-related harm, such as those recommended by the Community Preventive Services Task Force and the United States Preventive Services Task Force.
Partners
- NMDOH
- New Mexico Department of Transportation
- New Mexico Human Services Department
- New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department
- New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration
- Health Councils
- Santa Fe Prevention Alliance
- McKinley County DWI Council
- Rocky Mountain Youth Corp.
- Hands across Cultures
- Gallup Share and Care
- Partners for Community Action
- Clinical groups
- Navajo Nation
- Bernalillo County, Office of Health and Social Services
What Works
- Regulating alcohol outlet density in key areas.
- Increasing alcohol screening and brief intervention.
- Increasing the price of alcohol.
- Decreasing the hours alcohol is sold.
Strategy
- Increase in perception that alcohol is a public health issue.
- Increase in number of stakeholders that prioritize alcohol-related harm.
- Increase in number of stakeholders that are aware of Community Guide recommendations.
Action Plan
The Substance Abuse Epidemiology Section will work to decrease the alcohol-related death rate to the FY18 Target of 58.5 per 100,000 population as follows:
- Disseminate information on excessive alcohol use and alcohol-related harm to a variety of audiences.
- Build and maintain relationships with county and tribal health councils to prevent excessive alcohol use.
- Collaborate with external programs to prevent excessive alcohol use.
- Q1: Provide slides on excessive alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm to Hidalgo County and update McKinley County factsheet. Completed.
- Q2: Create factsheets for Hidalgo, Torrance, Cibola, and San Juan counties. Present to the Catron County Health Council. Completed
- Q3: Conduct Health Council Survey to determine the number of health councils that include evidence-based strategies to reduce alcohol-related harm in their plans. Create a factsheet for the Rio Arriba Health Council.
- Q4: Present to Rio Arriba Health Council. Assess results of the survey.