Violence, alcohol abuse and mental disorders are “inextricably linked and pose a major public health challenge”. Yet there is a lack of recognition of the links between the three, and few properly trained healthworkers to recognise and address patients’ substance abuse.   This is according to Jo-Anne Corrigall from the University of Cape Town’s School of Public Health and Family Medicine and the Medical Research Council’s Richard Matzopoulus writing in the SA Health Review.   South Africa is one of the most violent countries in the world. South Africans are 30 percent more likely to die violently than those in other sub-Saharan countries, according to the World Health Organisation.   Interpersonal violence was the second highest causes of death and disability in 2000. Our homicide rates are eight times the global norm, while the rate of women murdered by their intimate partners is one of the highest in the world.