Abstract

Background: Face-to-face interventions to reduce harmful alcohol use (HAU) have been encouraged by public policy in Chile; however, its coverage is unknown. Objective: Estimate and describe the national coverage of preventive and therapeutic interventions for HAU. Materials and methods: The base year for the estimate was 2014. Care from the public treatment network (SENDA and Primary Care), treatment under the explicit guarantee scheme (GES) public and private, and the national program of brief interventions (BI) in primary care was included. A user in need of intervention was defined as having an AUDIT of 8 or more. The population in need of intervention was estimated using projections from the National Institute of Statistics and the prevalence of HAU according to the National Health Survey 2010. Results: The prevalence of HAU is 12% (1,740,000 people) among those older than 15 years, and 131,373 subjects received face-to-face interventions: 58,925 were BI, and 72,448 some type of treatment. The national coverage for consumption at moderate risk of alcohol (AUDIT 8–15) was estimated at 5% and for problematic use or dependence (AUDIT 16 or more) 4%. Conclusions: Despite considerable implementation efforts, the coverage for face-to-face preventive or therapeutic interventions for HAU in Chile remains low. 45% of these attentions correspond to BI, aimed at the people with the lower risk of damage within the HAU spectrum. Given the difficulty and costs of implementing a BI program, it is necessary to focus its growth towards a population with high multi-morbidity (e.g., patients of the cardiovascular program). The regulatory measures to discourage the consumption of alcohol in the entire population are essential as a public health measure.