BMA Scotland, SHAAP, Alcohol Focus Scotland and Scottish Families Affected by Alcohol & Drugs have joined together to call on Scotland’s politicians to pledge to do more to reduce the exposure of children to alcohol advertising. They have issued the following press release today.

Today, Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP) launches its manifesto for action on alcohol ahead of the upcoming Holyrood election in May.

SHAAP's Top Twenty: A Manifesto for Action on Alcohol outlines our Top 20 policy recommendations for action on alcohol. These recommendations mark our renewed commitment to work with partners to reduce and prevent alcohol-related harms. In the manifesto we call for action on price, availability and marketing.

A press release to accompany the publication can be accessed here.

Following today's Procedural Hearing in the Inner Court of Session in Scotland to consider the opinion of the European Court of Justice in relation to Scotland's MUP policy, Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP) and Alcohol Focus Scotland (AFS) have released a press statement commenting on the ruling.

Both organisations welcome the Court's decision to collect more evidence.

Read our full press statement here.

Katherine Brown, Director of the Institute of Alcohol Studies in London, spoke at SHAAP's 2015/16 Alcohol Occasional seminar series about Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). She spoke of the current situation in the global alcohol market and how the industry is attempting to use CSR to engage with policy on alcohol. She concluded by re-emphaising the overall costs of alcohol to the UK and outlined some recommendations for future action - a summary of her presentation's key findings can be found here.

Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP), in collaboration with the Scottish Alcohol Research Network (SARN), are holding a one-day symposium for postgraduate students and early career researchers in Scotland who are interested in alcohol-related research. Abstracts are invited for oral presentations from postgraduate, PhD or post-doctoral researchers, exploring alcohol related issues from all disciplinary backgrounds and perspectives.

Please complete the form and send to Jennifer Fingland (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) by Monday 29^th February 2016.

Oral presentations will be 10 minutes, with 5 minutes for questions. We welcome all delegates to submit a poster, which will be displayed during the event. Decisions regarding successful presentations will be announced in March 2016.

The Scottish Alcohol Research Network (SARN), in collaboration with Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP), will be holding a Postgraduate and Early Career Research symposium on 18th of April 2016 at the Royal College of Physicians in Edinburgh.

The symposium will be a chance for students, with an interest in alcohol research, from across Scottish institutions to come together, and present their research. The overall aim of the Symposium is to build on and strengthen the PhD and Early Career Researchers community which is of great important to both SARN and SHAAP.

To attend, please sign-up here.

Professor Moira Plant of the University of the West of England and Curtin University, Perth, Australia, spoke at SHAAP's 2015/16 Alcohol Occasional seminar series about her involvement in the GENACIS (Gender, alcohol and culture) project. She spoke of the project's history and discussed the significant impacts it has had on the study of gender and alcohol - a summary of her presentation's key findings can be found here.

Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP) is pleased to support a survey being undertaken by the Scottish Transgender Alliance (STA) in partnership with North Ayrshire Alcohol and Drug Partnership.

The aim of the survey is to explore how (trans) gender expression or identity influences access to, or continuing provision of, specialist alcohol or drug services.

The survey is open to all transgender people in Scotland. All responses are confidential and any information used from answers given will be anonymised. The survey can be accessed here.

SHAAP has issued a press release welcoming the new guidance from UK Chief Medical Officers, based on evidence, including cancer risks, drinking behaviours and risks in pregnancy. This includes equal weekly limits of 14 units for men and women. The urgency of the need for Alcohol Minimum Pricing is re-emphasised. #MUPsaveslives 

Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP) and the Scottish Alcohol Research Network (SARN) are delighted to announce an additional seminar in our 2015/16 series of lunchtime seminars:

            Advising pregnant women about alcohol - experiences from cross-cultural  research

            Speaker: Lisa Scholin, Institute of Social Marketing, University of Stirling

            Date: 5th April 2016, 12:30-14:00

In this presentation, the findings from a cross-cultural study on alcohol use in pregnancy are presented. With focus on drinking guidelines and advice in antenatal care, practices and perceptions of drinking in pregnancy were explored among new parents and midwives in England and in Sweden. The presentation will highlight the similarities and differences in the two countries, and their implication for policy and practice.

To attend this event, you must register. You can register for this event via Eventbrite here.