Prata om Alkohol – Healthy Conversations About Alcohol

The ‘Prata Om Alkhol’ (POA) program, which translates to ‘Talk About Alcohol’, is a program initiated and funded by the Swedish Spirit & Wine Suppliers Association and the Swedish Brewers Association, providing schools with education material around responsible alcohol consumption. Its intention is to create a healthy attitude towards alcohol among students, to delay the onset of alcohol consumption and to provide tools for teachers to teach, discuss and deepen the discussion and understanding of alcohol among 13-17 year-olds.

450,000 participants since inception.
Down 43 percent – alcohol consumption among ninth graders down from 69 percent to 39 percent since inception.
13 percent – only one out of ten ninth graders has tried alcohol before the age of 14. In 2006, it was three out of ten.

Since its formation in 2006, three quarters of all Swedish schools have ordered material from POA and approximately 450,000 students have participated in the program. A three-year study at Karolinska Institutet (KI) evaluating the effectiveness of the program concluded that the program reduces the tendency for risky behavior among students in connection with alcohol.

Compared to 2006, Swedish young people’s alcohol consumption is at historically low levels. Consumption among ninth graders dropped from 69 percent to 39 percent between 2006 and 2018. The results also indicate that the program influences students to delay their first use of alcohol Today, only 13 percent of Swedish ninth graders have tried alcohol before the age of 14, compared to 32 percent when the program started in 2006.