Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking

Six Goals of the Call to Action

Developed in collaboration with the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking identifies six goals for the nation to reduce the number of underage drinkers and prevent children and adolescents from beginning to drink.

GOAL 1: Foster changes in American society that facilitate healthy adolescent development and that help prevent and reduce underage drinking.

GOAL 2: Engage parents, schools, communities, all levels of government, all social systems that interface with youth, and youth themselves, in a coordinated national effort to prevent and reduce drinking and its consequences.

GOAL 3: Promote an understanding of underage alcohol consumption in the context of human development and maturation that takes into account individual adolescent characteristics as well as environmental, ethnic, cultural, and gender differences.

GOAL 4: Conduct additional research on adolescent alcohol use and its relationship to development.

GOAL 5: Work to improve public health surveillance on underage drinking and on population-based risk factors for this behavior.

GOAL 6: Work to ensure that policies at all levels are consistent with the national goal of preventing and reducing underage alcohol consumption.

Suggested Citation:
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Surgeon General’s Call to Action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Surgeon General, 2007.

Last revised: March 7, 2007