www.alkoholpolitik.ch

The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA and the Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA have published a declaration of the Swiss Health Foreign Policy. It was found in the Monthly e-Newsletter of the World Federation of Public Health Associations. Link: (31 pages, pdf)
Comment:
page 7: „Safeguarding of interests and coherence
In both domestic and foreign policy, Switzerland has a variety of objectives to pursue. For example, Switzerland wishes to reconcile its commitment to a liberal economic order with the interests of solidarity and global health. In the measures designed to achieve these objectives, therefore, the greatest possible coherence should be sought, synergies should be developed, and inevitable conflicts of interests should be openly addressed and re-solved via the existing political decision-making mechanisms.“

Comment: In domestic policy Switzerland has big problems pursuing these objectives. Regarding alcohol policy the inevitable conflicts between the liberal economy and the interest of the people is not openly addressed. The existing political decision-making mechanisms are not working because of a sort of „alcohol-dependency“ of the majority of politicians.

page 12: „Area of interest 1: Governance
Since its establishment, WHO has been the key agency and dominant international forum for health issues, especially in the normative area. However, the last ten years have seen the emergence of a large number of new state, private and mixed institutions, which have rapidly developed into significant actors in the health field, sometimes with massive financial resources. As a result, the global health architecture has become more complex, and governance at the global level more difficult. Switzerland has a substantial interest in an improvement of the effectiveness of global and international health cooperation. It is therefore seeking to promote more coherent interaction among the relevant actors from the sectors of health, development cooperation, humanitarian aid, human rights and other health-related policy areas, be it at the bilateral level – especially in relations with the EU, but also in bilateral development cooperation –, in multilateral bodies or in the context of the WHO reform process. …“

Comment: It seems as if the coordination between the two departments doesn’t work so well. Switzerland signed the Resolution at the WHO General Assembly 2010 on a Global Alcohol Strategy. But the department of Home Affairs didn’t act accordingly. Very few people in Switzerland know about this resolution. The medias didn’t report. In the new Law on Alcohol which is going to parliament there are no articles with effective measures included as proposed in that resolution. Responsible for this law is the Department of Finance.(!) The WHO-Declaration on Non-Communicable Diseases in 2011 didn’t reach the people either. If the „existing political decision-making mechanisms“ are dominated by the interests of the alcohol industry, the population has no chance getting better alcohol related harm reduction.

Limiting alcohol to half a unit per day is best for health, say Oxford University researchers who analyzed the link between alcohol consumption and 11 chronic diseases and concluded 4,600 more lives would be saved every year if people in England were to cut the amount they drink to within this level.

They write about their findings in a BMJ Open paper that was published online on 30 May.
The lead author of the study was Dr Melanie Nichols of the BHF Health Promotion Research Group, in the Department of Public Health, at Oxford University. She told the press:

„People who justify their drinking with the idea that it is good for heart disease should also consider how alcohol is increasing their risk of other chronic diseases. A couple of pints or a couple of glasses of wine per day is not a healthy option.“ …
(Source: Medical News Today, 06/01/12)

Over the years, use of alcohol, excessive and prolonged, has been associated with various health hazards. With increasing clinical experience and research in the area, the association has become stronger and progressively more alarming. The evidence from different treatment settings viz. the outpatient department, inpatient setup, emergency department, and the consultation liaison services has linked the use of alcohol with a wide array of hazards to the physical and the psychological health of the users. The impact on psychological health extends beyond the users of alcohol to involve caregivers and other family members of users. …
(Source: Alcohol Reports, 05/21/12)

June 27th, 2012 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM, Location: Rue Wiertz 60, European Parliament, Brussels, B 1047, Belgium

The current EU Alcohol Strategy is coming to an end in 2012. However Europe is still the world’s heaviest drinking region-

– Alcohol is the world’s number one risk factor for ill-health and premature death amongst the 25 – 59 year old age group, a core of the working age population

– Alcohol related harm is 1 of the 4 risk factors for developing NCDs such as cancer and cardiovascular disease

– Social costs attributable to alcohol account for €155.8 billion

Due to the size of the problem and universal impact this problem requires a comprehensive, coordinated response from policy and decision makers at the European and national levels

This event will build on the Call for Action from 88 health and social NGOs from across Europe and will be an opportunity to address the issue in the European Parliament to ensure continuation of the efforts to tackle alcohol related harm.

For more informaiton please contact Eurocare Secretariat, aleksandra.kaczmarek@eurocare.org

Countries need to recognize that alcohol consumption is a big and growing public health threat and take appropriate action, experts concluded at a WHO regional meeting on the prevention and control of the noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) through reduction of alcohol-related harm.

WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific Dr Shin Young-soo opened the four-day meeting on 10 April by calling alcohol a „chief culprit“ behind the epidemic of noncommunicable diseases, which accounts for four out of every five deaths in the Western Pacific. …
Source: Alcohol Reports, 04/24/12) wpro.who.int, 19 April 2012

EUROPEAN COMMISSION, HEALTH & CONSUMERS DIRECTORATE-GENERAL, Directorate C – Public Health and Risk Assessment
Unit C4 – Health Determinants, Brussels 17 November 2011
Summary Report, 12/22/11

Addressing harmful use of alcohol is essential to realising the goals of the UN Resolution on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) And many other actual items, e.g.:
UNITED NATIONS ADOPT POLITICAL DECLARATION ON NON-COMMUNICABLE DISEASES
GAPA gives qualified Welcome to the Declaration
Conflict of Interest Coalition Statement of Concern
Alcohol consumption guidelines ‘inadequate for cancer prevention’: “No level of alcohol consumption without risk”
The Size and Burden of Mental Disorders and Other Disorders of the Brain in Europe – “It’s worse than we thought”
Valuable alcohol resource free to good home
Health Officials Advocate Measures to Curb Harmful Use of Alcohol in the Americas
(Source: ias.org.uk)

This supplement provides up-to-date estimates of the numbers (and percentages) of new cancer cases in the UK that are attributable to factors that have been established by international consensus as potentially avoidable causes of the disease. It therefore offers a useful guide to the relative importance of different preventive interventions.

Excluded from consideration are factors that, although known to be effective in reducing the risk of numerically important cancers, do not offer acceptable or practical preventive strategies at present. Early and multiple childbearing (to prevent breast cancer) and the widespread use of anti-androgen drugs (to prevent prostate cancer) come under this category. What remains is a limited number of important factors that can, at least to some extent, be affected by personal or political choices. The most important among these is continuation of the significant reduction in tobacco exposure. Next in importance are reductions in obesity and in heavy alcohol consumption, and certain other dietary changes. Each of these four main strategies for cancer control would also substantially reduce the burden of other non-communicable diseases, particularly cardiovascular, diabetic, renal and hepatic disease. … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 12/08/11) BJC British Journal of Cancer, 12/06/11
Comment: Today, a part of the Swiss parliament (chamber of the cantons) has refused to enter into discussion of a new law on prevention. Prevention should be private. The lobbyists have worked well. (Source: parlament.ch, 12/08/11)

High level meeting, Brussels, 17 November 2011. The 9th meeting of the Committee on National Alcohol Policy and Action
(CNAPA) took place on 17 November 2011. For the first time Member States were represented at senior level, in addition to regular CNAPA members. Attendance was very high. The meeting was chaired by Despina Spanou, Principal Advisor with DG Health and Consumers and Chair of the European Alcohol and Health Forum (EAHF). … (Source: EU-DG for Health and Consumers, 11/21/11)

Dear grown-ups, decision-makers in the European Parliament, in the national peoples’ representations, in the national governments and ministries, in the European Commission, We hope this letter finds you well.

We are not well. We are concerned because it looks like our future (is) broke.
In our organizations and for many of the young people and youth organizations we are cooperating with, the picture is clear: young Europeans are concerned, often even scared. We are extremely aware of the tremendous burden that is being put on each and every single young European, who will have to make huge efforts, work relentlessly to master the debt challenges collected and piled up by the grown-ups who have been making decisions in the past and do so today.
Millions of young Europeans – in youth organizations, schools, universities and the public places all over the continent – ask: how are we ever going to be able to pay back these paramount debts that exceed any form of imagination?

With this question came another realization: we, Europe’s youth, need the best possible conditions, tools and qualifications to be able to tackle the debt piled up by yesterday’s and today’s grown-ups. In that sense and in many other ways, it is wrong to cut and try and save money on education, youth facilities, culture. It is especially wrong when other measures go largely unnoticed. Therefore Active and (only) 30 of its members collected during 2 hours in Rome last weekend more than 130 postcards from people whom they met. 130 ideas what €125 Billion could be spent on – instead of paying for alcohol related harm every year. … (Source: Press Release activeeurope.org, 11/16/11)
Comment: This could be an essential part of the Occupy-movement.