Surveying Alcohol Outlet Density in Four Neighborhoods of Beirut Lebanon: Implications for Future Research and National Policy

Rima Nakkash, Lilian A. Ghandour, Sirine Anouti, Jessika Nicolas, Ali Chalak, Nasser Yassin and Rima Afifi
Additional contact information
Rima Nakkash: Department of Health Promotion and Community Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107-2020, Lebanon
Lilian A. Ghandour: Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107-2020, Lebanon
Sirine Anouti: Department of Epidemiology and Population Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107-2020, Lebanon
Jessika Nicolas: Department of Geology, Faculty of Arts and Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107-2020, Lebanon
Ali Chalak: Department of Agriculture, Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107-2020, Lebanon
Nasser Yassin: Department of Health Management and Policy, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107-2020, Lebanon
Rima Afifi: Department of Health Promotion and Community Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, American University of Beirut, Beirut 1107-2020, Lebanon

IJERPH, 2018, vol. 15, issue 9, 1-14

Abstract: Underage drinking among youth in Lebanon is increasing. Regulating availability is one of the best buy policies recommended by the World Health Organization. To quantitatively document the current status of alcohol availability to youth in Lebanon, we used GPS technology to survey alcohol outlet density in four highly populated neighborhoods in Beirut, Lebanon, and to estimate their proximity to educational institutions. The density of alcohol outlets ranged from 18.30 to 80.95 per km 2 (average of 39.6 alcohol outlets/km 2 ). The highest number of total alcohol outlets was in the “Hamra & Jamiaa” area, which includes one of the largest private universities in the country. Thirteen out of 109 (12%) alcohol outlets (on and off-premise) were located less 100 m away from educational institutions, in violation of the current licensing law. None of the off-premise and the majority (94%) of on-premise alcohol outlets displayed the “no sale for <18” sign. Findings were indicative of an environment conducive to increased access and availability of alcohol among youth in Lebanon probably attributed to the prevailing weak alcohol policies and their enforcement. Systematic collection and reporting of alcohol outlet densities is critical to understand the alcogenic environment and guide local harm reduction policies.

Keywords: GIS (geographic information systems); alcohol; youth; alcohol density; WHO best buys; alcohol availability; Lebanon; Beirut (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/9/2006/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/15/9/2006/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:15:y:2018:i:9:p:2006-:d:169791

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().