Table 4 Summary points

Research in context: The harmful use of alcohol is projected to increase globally, and particularly substantially in LMICs, indicating the need for comprehensive interventions to address the burgeoning burden of alcohol-related harms. An intervention with demonstrated effectiveness and cost-effectiveness evidence from diverse settings is the screening and BI approach for alcohol-related problems. Despite positive evidence favouring the use of BIs, a major challenge in the field of addictions has been the effective deployment and evaluation of this approach in routine practice

Added value of this study: Our paper aims to synthesise the state of the evidence for the implementation of BIs for alcohol use disorders, particularly hazardous and harmful drinking. We focus on low-resource settings because of challenges related to the uptake, dissemination and implementation of evidence-based BIs in these settings and provide potential solutions with specific examples from two low-resource contexts

Implications of existing evidence: To the best of our knowledge, there have been very few efforts to examine bottlenecks and opportunities in BI research in LMIC contexts. There is promise in potential solutions for supply-side barriers in care provision, including the use of the task-sharing model, digital technology-based delivery, remote capacity building efforts, etc. There is also a need for further work to unpack how BIs can be implemented and optimized in low-resource settings