Focusing on equity. Population-wide rates of drinking of alcoholic beverages are
markedly lower in poorer societies than in wealthier ones. However, for a given
amount of consumption, poorer populations may experience disproportionately
higher levels of alcohol-attributable harm. There is a great need to develop
and implement effective policies and programmes that reduce such social
disparities both inside a country and between countries. Such policies are also
needed in order to generate and disseminate new knowledge about the complex
relationship between harmful consumption of alcohol and social and health
ineµuity, particularly among indigenous populations, minority or marginalized
groups and in developing countries.