Global alcohol policy implementation in Thailand: A narrative review

Abstract

Alcohol consumption is growing in emerging economies. Thailand is an upper-middle-income emerging economy in Southeast Asia where the alcohol market has been under an oligopoly, which political groups are attempting to amend. The Thai Ministry of Public Health works in close partnership with the non-profit sector in alcohol control, and has recently adapted the World Health Organization’s (WHO) SAFER initiatives as part of the national alcohol agenda. In light of these ongoing changes, we conducted a narrative review with the following objectives: (1) to describe the development of alcohol control policy strategies in Thailand; and (2) to describe the current situation on alcohol policy implementation. We performed a search of the published and grey literature in both Thai and English languages using keywords related to topics of interest, and reviewed data on SAFER's effectiveness using a group of indicators (policy-attributable health outcomes). We found that Thailand has laws and regulations covering various domains of SAFER. However, gaps do exist with regard to regulation of alcohol outlet density, relatively low alcohol sales permit fees, control of online and surrogate marketing of alcoholic products, and enforcement of drinking-and-driving deterrence measures, among others. A review of the indicators showed that annual per capita alcohol consumption (APC) and prevalence of drinkers have remained constant since 2008, whereas the prevalence of binge-drinking has been on a decline since 2014. However, deaths attributable to alcohol have increased in both men and women. The findings of this narrative review may have implications for policymakers and stakeholders in behavioral health.