Background. The economic, social and health costs associated with alcohol-related harms are important measures with which to inform alcohol management policies and laws. This analysis builds on previous cost estimates for South Africa. Methods. We reviewed existing international best-practice costing frameworks to provide the costing definitions and dimensions. We sourced data from South African costing literature or, if unavailable, estimated costs using socio-economic and health data from secondary sources. Care was taken to avoid possible causes of cost overestimation, in particular double counting and, as far as possible, second-round effects of alcohol abuse. Results. The combined total tangible and intangible costs of alcohol harm to the economy were estimated at 10 -12% of the 2009 gross domestic product (GDP). The tangible financial cost of harmful alcohol use alone was estimated at R37.9 billion, or 1.6% of the 2009 GDP. Discussion. The costs of alcohol-related harms provide a substantial counterbalance to the economic benefits highlighted by the alcohol industry to counter stricter regulation. Curtailing these costs by regulatory and policy interventions contributes directly and indirectly to social well-being and the economy. Conclusions. Existing frameworks that guide the regulation and distribution of alcohol frequently focus on maximising the contribution of the alcohol sector to the economy, but should also take into account the associated economic, social and health costs. Current interventions do not systematically address the most important causes of harm from alcohol, and need to be informed by reliable evidence of the ongoing costs of alcohol-related harms.

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More than 90% of violence-related deaths occur in low- to middle-income countries (LMICs), where the mortality rate due to violence is almost 2.5 times greater than in high-income countries. Over and above the substantial contribution of violence as a cause of death and physical injuries, victims of violence are also more vulnerable to a range of mental and physical health problems. Several studies describe the deleterious impact of different types of violence on a range of health outcomes, but no review has yet been undertaken that presents a composite overview of the current state of knowledge in LMICs. This paper reviews the scientific literature describing the nature, magnitude and impact of violence on health, describing the current state of violence-prevention policy developments within the global health agenda and highlighting the health consequences, disease burden and economic costs of violence. Although data are limited, the review indicates that costs relating to violence deplete health care budgets considerably and that scarce resources could be better used to address other health threats that hamper development.

a r t i c l e i n f o Keywords:Interpersonal violence prevention policy Risk factors Interventions Burden of disease Low-to middle-income contexts Western Cape South Africa a b s t r a c tIn South Africa's Western Cape province, interpersonal violence was identified among the key prevention priorities in the provincial government's Burden of Disease (BoD) Reduction project. To date, there are no adequate systematic reviews of the full range of potential intervention strategies. In response, available data and the literature on risk factors and prevention strategies for interpersonal violence were reviewed with a view to providing policy makers with an inventory of interventions for application. Given the predominance of upstream factors in driving the province's rates of interpersonal violence, efforts to address its burden require an intersectoral approach. Achievable short-term targets are also required to offset the long-term nature of the strategies most likely to affect fundamental shifts. Documentation and evaluation will be important to drive long-term investment, ensure effectiveness and enable replication of successful programmes and should be considered imperative by interpersonal violence prevention policymakers in other low-to middle-income contexts.

Objectives:The objective of this report was to consider some ways in which a range of phenomena commonly treated as "risk factors" for violence (including social asymmetries based on factors such as gender, race, and class and drug or alcohol intoxication) become observable in violent (or potentially violent) interactions. In doing so, we contribute to a growing body of research focused on moving beyond cataloguing factors abstractly associated with risk for violent outcomes, toward specifying the ways in which these risk factors are constituted in "doing violence" itself. Method: We used an ethnomethodological and conversation analytic approach to examine the sequential unfolding of interactions in which violent actions are projected and/or realized, drawing on a collection of 105 videos downloaded from the video sharing site YouTube. Results: Our analysis demonstrates how participants in the interactions orient to or deploy "risk factors" as resources for the production of actions and/or for interpreting or accounting for the actions of themselves and others before, during, or after the production of violent actions. Conclusions: The findings demonstrate that the target phenomena, rather than simply being abstracted "risk factors" (in a distal or "upstream" sense), are constitutive features of the in situ unfolding of conflicts in which violence comes to be projected (if not always realized) as an outcome. As a result, the ontological distance between "risk" and "enactments" of violence effectively dissolves when episodes in which these phenomena appear are subjected to detailed analysis.