*Updated* WHO Global Strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol

*Update* 21 May 2010

The World Health Assembly took place from 17 to 21 May 2010 in Geneva. The draft Global Strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol was adopted by the 193 members of the United Nations on the 21th May. The Strategy is available here.

After Member States considered the report, “Strategies to reduce the harmful use of alcohol” at the World Health Assembly and mandated the WHO to prepare a global strategy, a wide consultation process was launched in 2008. This was to produce a draft Global Strategy based on contributions by the six WHO regions on ways to reduce the harmful use of alcohol. A first draft was finally presented at the WHO Executive Board meeting in Geneva from 18 to 23 January 2010. The final draft will be considered in May at the World Health Assembly (17-22 May 2010). EPHA was one of the relevant stakeholders who took part in the consultation process.

After introducing the challenges posed by the harmful consumption of alcohol and its consequences, the Global Strategy expresses a number of challenges and opportunities:

 Increasing global action and international cooperation in order to decrease the impact of alcohol and its increased availability.
 Ensuring comprehensive action aiming to reduce the harmful use of alcohol considering the diversity of related problems.
 According appropriate attention to the burden of harmful alcohol use among decision makers, especially in developing, low and middle income countries.
 Balancing economic and public health interests.
 Focusing on equity in developing policies that aim to reduce existing social disparities around alcohol consumption (providing information on the relationship between alcohol and social and health inequity)
 Considering the overall context in the transfer to national strategies. Strengthening information in order to fill prevailing knowledge gaps, in particular concerning the situation in low and middle income countries,
 Strengthening information.

The Global Strategy then focuses on aims and objectives. Beyond the added value of a global effort in support of local or national actions, the Global Strategy aims to give guidance for action at all levels, to set priority areas for global action and to recommend a portfolio of policy options and measures that can be reviewed and transferred nationally. These actions will target drinkers and more particularly, vulnerable groups such as adolescents and people with a low socioeconomic status.

The main objectives are:
 to raise global awareness on intersectoral problems resulting from the harmful consumption of alcohol (health, social and economy);
 to increase governments’ commitment to concretely address these problems;
 to emphasise the importance of alcohol determinants and their prevention;
 to maximise the support given to Member States in their work on prevention of harmful use of alcohol;
 to strengthen stakeholders’ cooperation; and
 to improve the dissemination, implementation and monitoring of information.

Guiding principles:

Although a balance needs to be found between economic interest and public health interests, it is the public health interest that must generate interventions to reduce the harmful use of alcohol. This needs to happen in an equitable way, taking into account national particularities. Policies must encompass all alcoholic beverages and target drinkers and their peers - and simultaneously support non drinkers.

National policies and measures:

Through legal and/or non-legal frameworks, monitoring these actions will ensure their most effective implementation. The coordination of relevant stakeholders will ensure the effectiveness of existing national policies. Health ministries play a crucial role in this.

The WHO Secretariat recommended a group of 10 complementary target areas, based on scientific knowledge and evidence:

 Leadership, awareness and commitment.
 Health services’ response: Beyond their role to provide prevention and treatment to drinkers and their entourage, health services must raise awareness of the health, social, and economic consequences of drinking.
 Community action: Local actions are often the most appropriate; they can be supported by higher scale actions.
 Drink-driving policies and countermeasures: Drink-drivers represent a burden on society which increases the need for prevention and sanctions.
 Availability of alcohol: The level of alcohol-related problems results from its availability in general, and to vulnerable groups in particular. Several dimensions come into play and they are targeted in the WHO recommendations.
 Marketing of alcoholic beverages: Marketing, especially to children and young people, is also responsible for the current Europe-wide problem. Industry uses increasingly innovative strategies to transmit messages that must be regulated.
 Pricing policies: The link between the price of a product and its consumption has been scientifically established. Increasing the price of alcohol is one of the most effective interventions to reduce harmful use.
 Reducing the negative consequences of drinking and intoxication: By targeting its broader context.
 Reducing the public health impact of illicit and informally produced alcohol: Illicit and informally produced alcohol is an increasing practice, particularly in low and middle income countries. Unsafe substances used in some beverages increase the dangers of consumption.
 Monitoring and surveillance.

Every target area includes several policy options, the implementation of which will have to consider the specific national context. To see these proposed policy options, please take a look at the full report.

The draft strategy, based on existing best practices and evidence of the effectiveness of certain interventions, will be submitted and considered at the World Health Assembly in May 2010.

For further information:
 WHO Webpage on the Strategy procedure

EPHA related articles:
 Contribution to WHO Public Hearing on Ways of Reducing Harmful Use of Alcohol
 WHO Conducts a Hearing on Ways of Reducing Harmful Use of Alcohol