WHO launches study on harmful use of alcohol
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The World Health Organisation (WHO), already campaigning against obesity and smoking, launched a probe on Wednesday into alcohol, which is estimated to kill 1.8 million people each year.
A resolution, initiated by Nordic countries, was adopted by ministers from the WHO’s 192 member states on the final day of their annual 10-day assembly.
It expressed alarm at “trends in hazardous consumption”, or binge drinking, particularly among young people, and cited a growing risk in developing countries.
The U.N. agency will conduct further scientific studies and report back in two years on ways to reduce alcohol-related harm.
“Alcohol is now a global problem,” Catherine Le Gales-Camus, WHO’s assistant director-general for noncommunicable diseases and mental health, told Reuters in an interview.
“Member states are more and more concerned by the use of alcohol among the younger part of the population. New patterns of consumption, binge drinking, are major issues,” she added.
The ministerial assembly last addressed alcohol more than 20 years ago.
WHO director-general Lee Jong-Wook is to name experts to draw up the study and recommendations after talks with member states, health workers and the alcoholic beverages industry.
The agreement follows the WHO’s launching last year of a global strategy on diet and exercise to tackle obesity, blamed for an increase in deadly chronic diseases.
A 2003 WHO pact aimed at curbing tobacco use, through stronger warnings on cigarette packages and an eventual ban on advertising and sponsorship, came into force last February.
Alcohol can damage nearly every organ and system in the body, contributing to more than 60 diseases and conditions, including dependence, liver cirrhosis and cardiovascular disease, according to a WHO report presented to the talks.
It is estimated to cause at least 1.8 million deaths a year - including suicides and road accidents blamed on drinking - or four percent of deaths and disease worldwide. This is slightly less than tobacco at 4.1 percent and high blood pressure at 4.4 percent.
“Public health problems associated with alcohol consumption have reached alarming proportions and alcohol has become one of the most important risks to health globally,” the report said.
Excessive drinking could be due to increased availability of alcoholic beverages and “aggressive marketing and promotion of such drinks aimed at young people”, according to the report.
International experts have found that the most effective measures to reduce alcohol-related problems included a minimum legal age for buying alcohol, government monopoly of retail sales, limited hours for sales, high taxes, and sobriety checks.
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