But while talking, we got more and more enthusiastic. Ideas on how to include alcohol in the overall harm reduction movement and how to make it more appealing, flew back and forth. At one point, I decided to challenge Ana Gloria: I asked her if she would be interested in organising the first International Conference on Alcohol and Harm Reduction. The rest is history: a year later we had a very exciting and successful conference in Recife, followed by the second conference in Warsaw in 2004 and today we are here in Cape Town.

It is a privilege to be here in Cape Town today, to be in South Africa, the rainbow nation, a country in transition, a country where the third and first world meet each other, sometimes by just turning a corner. In July, I was here to facilitate the Alcohol Policy Seminar. For three days, we met with over 60 South African professionals from many different disciplines to discuss alcohol policies. I was impressed with the level of knowledge and commitment and I realized what a great opportunity we have by organising our conference here in South Africa and learn how a country in transition handles alcohol related problems. I’m looking forward to hearing more!

Just a minute ago, I mentioned something about my views on the alcohol field in 2001. Let me tell you: in the last 5 years, I have learned a lot. The assumption that the alcohol field is dominated by people who take pleasure in telling other people not to have pleasure is too black and white. Of course, there are people like that, but there are so many others, who are committed to reduce alcohol related harm, who accept the reality that alcohol is part of our society and that alcohol has an important function in socialising. Of course, this does not mean that one turns a blind eye to alcohol abuse and the harm associated with that. And we should not. Don’t we all know the statistics? Haven’t we all seen alcohol related harm with our own eyes?

Often, when we think of alcohol related harm, we think of long term harm, associated with chronic alcohol abuse. We think about liver cirrhoses, psychiatric disorders, loss of job, divorce, homelessness etc.). But, according to the World Health Organisation, 50% of alcohol related harm can be classified as acute harm. This is often caused by people who are not ‘problem drinkers’, people who see themselves as ‘normal’, but who had -at a particular time- too much to drink and acted irresponsibly. Under the influence, they did something stupid, such as driving a car, getting involved in a fight, causing nuisance to other people or having unsafe sex, with all the risks associated with that.
More traditional interventions seem to put most of their energy in working with those people who suffer from chronic harm. I don’t question that. I think it is necessary and worthwhile doing.

However, I still see a major lack in how we handle acute harm.
Acute harm is often managed by generalist, professionals, such as police men, bartenders, ambulance staff, people working in a first aid. They are no alcohol specialists! Who is assisting them? How are they trained? How are they helped to be effective? How can they play a more profound role in harm reduction?
And what about the context in which acute alcohol related harm happens. What do we do in that area? How can we create safer places, where people enjoy alcohol without harming themselves or others?
And how do we reach those people who don’t see themselves as problem drinkers but who nevertheless get themselves and other into trouble after having too much to drink?

Important questions and major challenges for the harm reduction movement.
Can we handle these challenges?
Can we make a difference?
Of course we can and we will!

We can do so by learning from each others experiences, by not only following our hearts (which is important), but also by having a good eye for the outcome of evaluations of interventions. What works? What has proven to be effective?
We can make a difference if we build partnerships, analyse who are the players in the field and what their role could be in reducing alcohol related harm. Talk with decision makers, alcohol producers, people from the hospitality industry, the police, teachers, parents, researchers, health professionals, prevention workers and people working in the alcohol treatment field and, of course, involve those who are directly affected by alcohol. The Harm Reduction Movement, is a movement of inclusion. We rather talk WITH than ABOUT people. Building partnerships is crucial in becoming more effective.

But that will not be enough. We also need to place alcohol higher on the public agenda. Moralising has no place in such a strategy. With the media, politicians and the public, we have to communicate, that harm reduction interventions are effective. That they help to improve the quality of life, that they make communities better and safer places to live and socialize and that –in the end- everybody benefits from it.

So, here we are at the beginning of a three day conference. We have tried to put an interesting programme together.
A programme, where we will hear about targeted interventions, research data, innovative approaches and where we will interact with our colleagues in the working groups.
A programme, where we will debate issues which we are facing in our day-to-day work.
A programme which gives sufficient space for networking.

We call this conference a ‘working conference’ and we hope that all of you will actively participate wherever possible.

Of course, a conference like this does not just happen overnight. It needs inspiration, and surely a lot of hard work!

My organisation, Quest for Quality, and the University of Limpopo and the International Harm Reduction Association could not have organised this conference without great support from so many people and organisations.
I would like to mention the members of the organizing committee:
• Marjana Martinic, USA, ICAP
• Monica Gorgulho, Brazil, DINAMO
• Chan Makan, South Africa, ARA
• Solomon Rataemane, South Africa, University of Limpopo
• Gerry Stimson, UK, IHRA
• Jack Law, UK, Alcohol Focus Scotland
• Ana Gloria Melcop, Centro de Prevenção às Dependências, Brazil
• Ewa Osiatynska, The Stefan Batory Foundation, Poland

And I would like to mention my colleague at Quest for Quality, Kamila Lenarczyk and also Amit Makan of Africa Marketing Services. The were and are key note people in working through all the practicalities of this conference.

And a conference like this would not have happened without financial support from various sides. We would like to thank the main sponsors of this conference:

• ICAP
• The Brazilian Ministry of Health
• ARA
• The International Harm Reduction Association

And we would also like to thank those organisations which have contributed towards the scholarship fund.
• ICAP
• IHRA
• European Forum for Responsible Drinking
• Diageo
The Scholarship Fund allowed us to bring interesting people from many different parts of the world to this conference. It is great to have them here.

Dear colleagues and friends,
In closing I would like to wish you all a very fruitful conference and I certainly hope it will give us all new knowledge, inspiration and above all a lot of energy to continue our important work.

Let’s start!!!

Thank you