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.
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
- Handbook for action to reduce alcohol-related harm 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.
- Evidence for the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of interventions to reduce alcohol-related harm. The report reviews what is known and not known about the health, social and economic impact of a number of different interventions.
News
Now available draft Global Strategy to Reduce Harmful Use of Alcohol
The text can be found at http://www.who.int/substance_abuse/activities/globalstrategy/en/index.html, and here: http://apps.who.int/gb/e/e_eb126.html.
