The Distribution of Available Prevention and Management Interventions for Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (2007 to 2017): Implications for Collaborative Actions

Abstract

The global prevalence of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) remains high despite the various preventive and management interventions that have been designed and implemented to tackle the issue in various settings. The aim of the scoping review is to identify and classify prevention and management interventions of FASD reported globally across the life span and to map the concentration of these interventions across the globe. We searched some selected databases with predefined terms. Framework and narrative approaches were used to synthesize and report on the findings. Thirty-two prevention intervention studies and 41 management interventions studies were identified. All the interventions were reported to be effective or showed promising outcomes for the prevention and management of FASD, except four. Although Europe and Africa have a relatively higher prevalence of FASD, the lowest number of interventions to address FASD were identified in these regions. Most of the interventions for FASD were reported in North America with comparatively lower FASD prevalence. The uneven distribution of interventions designed for FASD vis-à-vis the burden of FASD in the different regions calls for a concerted effort for knowledge and intervention sharing to enhance the design of contextually sensitive preventive and management policy in the different regions.

Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders: Fixing Our Aim to Aim for the Fix

“…We, as editors of this special issue on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASD), are proud to present eleven papers [1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11]. These studies focused on prevention, systems development, clinical practice, and public policy.…”

A guideline for the prevention and management of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder in South Africa

“…In developing the guideline for the prevention and management of FASD, we adapted the World Health Organization’s approach (steps) [38, 39], which we organised in three phases (Fig. 1).…”

“…Furthermore, we conducted a scoping review to identify the prevention and management interventions of FASD globally that could be included in the policy [38]. We searched the following Ebsco Host embedded databases: Academic Search Complete, ERIC, SoINDEX, Health Source.…”

Maternal Substance Use: Consequences, Identification and Interventions

“…This policy may arise from a desire to discourage women from using substances while pregnant, to encourage women to seek treatment, and to ensure the safety of the neonate. 57 The association between states with punitive or reporting policies related to substance use in pregnancy and rates of NAS was recently evaluated in a study of 4,567,963 births from 8 U.S. states in varying years between 2003 and 2014. 57 States without punitive or reporting policies were compared with states that had such policies, before and after policy enactment.…”

“…Most interventions for FASD have been reported in North America, which has lower FASD prevalence compared to Europe and other sites around the world. 57 Context-related differences may impact on the effectiveness of the interventions. For example, in a systematic review of prevention interventions to reduce prenatal alcohol exposure and FASD in indigenous communities, reviewers evaluated studies conducted from 1989 to 2017.…”