Czechia rolls out new screening to tackle rising alcohol and addiction risks
Czechia consistently ranks among the heaviest-drinking countries in Europe. A new addictology screening program aims to identify risky alcohol and tobacco use sooner and guide people to help before long-term harm develops. The online training prepares doctors, teachers, and social-care workers to recognise the early warning signs of dependence.
According to the Czech National Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Addiction (NMS) and the World Health Organization (WHO), annual per-capita alcohol consumption places the country near the very top of European rankings, while smoking rates remain substantial — with roughly a quarter of adults using tobacco. Recent OECD and EU health profiles confirm that Czechia’s drinking levels exceed the EU average by a significant margin.
Yet doctors still often fail to ask routine questions about smoking or drinking, despite a legal obligation to do so. A new nationwide addictology screening programme now aims to change this culture by giving healthcare providers and educators simple tools to identify risks early. It was developed by the Clinic of Addictology at Charles University’s First Faculty of Medicine together with the Office of the Government.
How the screening works
Professor Milan Miovský, head of the Clinic of Addictology, explains that the first step in screening is surprisingly simple.
“The basic questions are really the kind you would intuitively expect. For example: when you wake up in the morning, how long does it take before you need to have a drink of alcohol, or light your cigarette, or start vaping. And even just observing that time interval is one of the most important indicators, and there is no need for any big details. The specialist also asks the patient about the number of cigarettes smoked or the amount of alcohol they drink daily.”
Miovský notes that “low-risk drinking” means staying under 20 grams of alcohol per day — roughly one beer — and building in at least two or three alcohol-free days per week.
Risky consumption begins at 40–60 grams a day, a threshold also highlighted in the NMS annual reports.
“In other words, the risk increases exponentially, and with this pattern of use, over ten, twenty, thirty years, various serious diseases begin to appear in a certain percentage of the population. For example, among others, type 2 diabetes — 25% is directly linked to alcohol — or oncological diseases.”
Small amounts, big risks
Even levels many Czechs consider “normal” can be medically significant. According to OECD’s 2024 health profile, Czechia’s average daily alcohol intake is distinctly higher than the EU mean — meaning risk curves rise earlier for large parts of the population. Miovský adds:
“It is an amount that is actually relatively very small. Yet this is the amount where things begin to turn. It is the amount from which, when you go higher — meaning we are talking about 80–100 grams, that is 4 to 5 beers a day — there is already, for example, an exponential increase during long-term consumption, for instance in oncological diseases, brain bleeding, and similar conditions.”
The purpose is not to intimidate patients but to help them make informed choices.
“We are not here to scare people, no one wants to frighten patients, no one wants to threaten them or anything like that. It is about giving them plain information. If you continue like this, it is very likely — and it is possible to use that number — that at this level of consumption, during 10–20 years, you may unnecessarily develop this disease. Consider whether it is worth it to you.”
Doctors rarely ask — even though the risks are well known
Despite WHO and NMS warnings over the years, Czech doctors still ask about alcohol and tobacco surprisingly rarely. That is one of the main motivations behind the new screening programme. According to Lucia Kiššová, head of the Government Office’s Department of Drug Policy:
“In 2024, according to one survey, when visiting a patient, doctors asked about smoking in about half of the cases, and only in a third of cases about alcohol. According to another survey, a brief intervention is carried out with smokers who show risky smoking by about thirty percent of doctors, and a similar percentage applies to alcohol users.”
The online training takes six hours and can be completed at any time. It is designed for general practitioners, paediatricians, gynaecologists, nurses, teachers, and institutional-care staff — anyone who routinely meets people at risk and can guide them toward healthier decisions.
