YALE JOURNAL OF BIOLOGY AND MEDICINE 87 (2014), pp.307-319. Copyright © 2014. FOCUS: GLOBAL HEALTH AND DEVELOPMENT Alcohol and Hospitalized Road Traffic Injuries

Each year, there are approximately 1.24 million deaths due to road traffic injuries, the ma-jority of which occur in low- and middle-income countries. Since 2008, 35 countries have passed legislation to implement road safety strategies. However, many countries have yet to pass comprehensive legislation while others lack adequate enforcement of current poli-cies. The annual global mortality rate due to road trauma remains unacceptably high and re-flects the need for governments to prioritize the passage and implementation of road safety legislation. Alcohol is a leading risk factor for road trauma globally and the leading cause of death and disability in the Western Pacific region. Despite the overwhelming evidence that strict en-forcement of drunk-driving policies can lead to a drastic reduction in alcohol-related road in-cidents, many countries in the Western Pacific lack sufficient data that could facilitate the design of appropriate drunk-driving interventions. This paper provides an analysis of the current status of policies and attitudes related to al-cohol and road injuries throughout the Western Pacific region, with a specific focus on the Philippines. Following the passage of drunk-driving legislation in 2013, a medical records re