European Alcoho... / Resources / Policy Issues / Alcohol Policy and the WHO
Alcohol Policy and the WHO
In May 2008, the World Health Assembly (WHA) approved Res. WHA 61.4, “Strategies to reduce the harmful use of alcohol,” calling on the WHO Director General to prepare a draft global strategy to reduce harmful use of alcohol and “consult with intergovernmental organizations, health professionals, nongovernmental organizations and economic operators on ways they could contribute to reducing harmful use of alcohol.” That process of consultation began in September 2008 and will culminate in a draft Global Strategy that will be delivered to the WHA's Executive Board in November 2009 for its review and later approval at the WHA meeting in May 2010.
During the Sixty-third session of the World Health Assembly, held in Geneva in May 2010, the 193 Member States of WHO reached an historical consensus on a global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol by adopted resolution WHA63.13. The adopted resolution and endorsed strategy gives guidance to both Member States and to the WHO Secretariat on ways to reduce the harmful use of alcohol.
Follow the process for implementing the WHA 61.4 resolution and preparing a draft global strategy to reduce harmful use of alcohol here
For more information, go to the WHO's global website or the WHO's regional European website.
Resources
-WHO Global Status report on alcohol and health 2011
- Evidence for the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of interventions to reduce alcohol-related harm (2009). The report reviews what is known and not known about the health, social and economic impact of a number of different interventions.
- Handbook for action to reduce alcohol-related harm (2009) which aims to assist policy makers to review plans to further reduce the harm caused by alcohol. The ten areas for action include pricing, availability and marketing
