News di Alcologia

Reduction in alcohol related harm among global WHO targets to improve health

WHO Member States have agreed on the first ever global monitoring framework to fight Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) during a meeting earlier this month (5-7 November) in Geneva.

The overall global voluntary target is to reduce by 2025 premature death and mortality due to NCDs by 25%.

NCDs, also known as chronic diseases, are of long duration and generally slow progression causing a considerable cost to the public expenditure. World Economic Forum and Harvard School of Public Health estimated that NCDs will cause economic output loss of US$ 47 trillion over the next two decades. NCDs kill more than 36 million people each year of which 14 million are under the age of 70 years old.

Alcohol is 1 of the main 4 key risk factors for developing NCDs. The European region suffers from highest deaths from NCDs and the highest overall alcohol consumption.

The proposed framework includes 9 voluntary global targets and 25 indicators to prevent and control NCDs such as cardiovascular diseases, cancers, diabetes and chronic respiratory diseases.

The 9 voluntary global targets are aimed at combating premature mortality from NCDs, harmful use of alcohol, tobacco use, physical inactivity, salt/sodium intake, raised blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, promoting drug therapy and counseling, and medicines and technologies for NCDs.

The 25 indicators are aimed at measuring premature mortality, cancer incidence, harmful use or alcohol, low fruit and vegetable intake, overweight and obesity, physical inactivity, raised blood glucose, raised blood pressure, raised total cholesterol, salt/sodium intake, tobacco use, fat intake, cervical cancer screening, drug therapy and counseling to prevent heart attacks and strokes, essential NCD medicines and technologies, palliative care, policies to reduce the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages to children, vaccination against hepatitis B, policies to eliminate partially hydrogenated vegetable oils from food supply, and vaccination against human papillomavirus.

The global monitoring framework will now be considered first by the WHO Executive Board during its 132nd session in January 2013 and then be submitted to the World Health Assembly in May 2013 for consideration and adoption.

Throughout the consultation process Eurocare has been advocating for:

- Formulation of target as "10% relative reduction in per capita consumption of litres of pure alcohol among persons aged 15+ years"

- The WHO Global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol and its target areas to be considered as the principal point of reference for Member States in order to tackle alcohol related harm through cost effective interventions

- Emphasis on the population based interventions which address NCD risk factors

- Implementation of NCD ‘Best Buys' interventions in relation to alcohol (tax increases on alcoholic beverages, comprehensive restrictions and bans on alcohol marketing, restrictions on the availability of retailed alcohol)

(Articolo pubblicato dal CUFRAD sul sito www.alcolnews.it)