• Excessive alcohol use can lead to increased risk of health problems such as injuries, violence, liver diseases, and cancer.
• Four people die of alcohol-related causes every day in New Mexico and the rate of alcohol-related mortality is increasing.
• Excessive alcohol consumption does not differ by race/ethnicity. Alcohol-related death rates are two times higher for Whites, three times higher for Black/African Americans and Hispanics, and nearly ten times higher for American Indians compared to Asian/Pacific Islanders.
• A multifactorial approach is needed to address alcohol-related harm in New Mexico. The New Mexico Department of Health (NMDOH) depends on partnerships with other state agencies, clinicians, community groups, and councils to expand its reach.
• For the 3rd quarter, NMDOH has continued to reach out regularly to other tribal and county health councils. NMDOH developed a county fact sheet on alcohol with the Rio Arriba Health Council that was not taken up by the council. NMDOH is continuing to develop county-level fact sheets to estimate the cost of excessive alcohol use for each county as a collaborative process that is dependent on mutual participation. The survey to see which health councils have included evidence-based strategies to reduce alcohol-related harm has not been completed.
• There are many evidence-based strategies that can be implemented to reduce alcohol-related harm, such as those recommended by the Community Preventive Services Task Force and the United States Preventive Services Task Force. The Epidemiology and Response Division Substance Abuse Epidemiology program will leverage internal NMDOH resources to complete the survey to health councils by end of FY18 and focus on county collaborations that show mutual interest and participation.

• NMDOH
• New Mexico Department of Transportation
• New Mexico Human Services Department
• New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department
• New Mexico Department of Finance and Administration
• Health Councils
• Santa Fe Prevention Alliance
• McKinley County DWI Council
• Rocky Mountain Youth Corp.
• Hands across Cultures
• Gallup Share and Care
• Partners for Community Action
• Clinical groups
• Navajo Nation
• Bernalillo County, Office of Health and Social Services

• Regulating alcohol outlet density in key areas.
• Increasing alcohol screening and brief intervention.
• Increasing the price of alcohol.
• Decreasing the hours alcohol is sold.

• Increase in perception that alcohol is a public health issue.
• Increase in number of stakeholders that prioritize alcohol-related harm.
• Increase in number of stakeholders that are aware of Community Guide recommendations.

The Substance Abuse Epidemiology Section will work to decrease the alcohol-related death rate to the FY18 Target of 58.5 per 100,000 population as follows:

• Disseminate information on excessive alcohol use and alcohol-related harm to a variety of audiences.
• Build and maintain relationships with county and tribal health councils to prevent excessive alcohol use.
• Collaborate with external programs to prevent excessive alcohol use.

• Q1: Provide slides on excessive alcohol consumption and alcohol-related harm to Hidalgo County and update McKinley County factsheet. Completed.
• Q2: Create factsheets for Hidalgo, Torrance, Cibola, and San Juan counties. Present to the Catron County Health Council. Completed
• Q3: 
  • Conduct Health Council Survey to determine the number of health councils that include evidence-based strategies to reduce alcohol-related harm in their plans. Incomplete.  
  • Create a factsheet for the Rio Arriba Health Council. Complete.
• Q4: Present to Rio Arriba Health Council. Assess results of the survey.