Public Health vs Alcohol: An interview with Savera Kalideen
Themes:
The Soul City Institute for Health and Development Communication is a STRIVE partner in South Africa. Soul City combines research with radio and television programming and community organising to run powerful campaigns on public health. With other STRIVE partners, Soul City is using GIS mapping to document the availability and marketing of alcohol in specific areas, and using photovoice to explore the impact of alcohol on the lives of young people in the same areas.
In this interview, Savera Kalideen looks back at Phuza Wize (“consume wisely”), a campaign to address alcohol regulation from a public health perspective. She describes:
• how Soul City gained buy-in for the campaign
• what kinds of changes Phuza Wize proposed
• the importance of research from a structural perspective
• the association between HIV and alcohol availability
• progress in 2015 towards Phuza Wize goals in South Africa
She looks ahead to STRIVE’s multi-country study on alcohol availability and marketing, defining why and how the findings will contribute to a change agenda to benefit public health.
