www.alkoholpolitik.ch

PRESS RELEASE

Brussels, Belgium, 21^st September 2018

We are still number one but hopefully not for long – Europe’s alcohol consumption
WHO Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health 2018

More than 3 million people died as a result of harmful use of alcohol in 2016, according to a report released by the World Health Organization (WHO) today. This represents 1 in 20 deaths. More than three quarters of these deaths were among men. Overall, the harmful use of alcohol causes more than 5% of the global disease burden.

Europe continues to have the highest per capita consumption in the world. The good news is that per capita consumption has decreased by more than 10% since 2010. However, Europe has the highest rates of current drinking among 15–19-year-olds, followed by the Americas (38%) and the Western Pacific (38%). School surveys indicate that, in many countries, alcohol use starts before the age of 15 with very small differences between boys and girls.

European Alcohol Policy Alliance (Eurocare) wants to remind the European Institutions of the Council Conclusions on Cross-border aspects in alcohol policy – tackling harmful use of alcohol during the Estonian Presidency in December 2017.

Mariann Skar, Secretary General of Eurocare said:
“Juncker’s Commission has neglected and ignored alcohol policy. We are still waiting for decision on such, one might imagine, simple issue as whether consumers should have calories on the labels. Not to mention the missed opportunity of Audiovisual Media Services Directive to reduce exposure to alcohol advertising. Last but not least, we still have minimum excise duties from 1992. The progress we are seeing in Europe is because of courageous actions at a Member States level, countries such as Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Scotland, Finland have implemented progressive alcohol policy solutions’‘.

Member States have clearly shown that there is a will to do more to tackle alcohol related harm. Juncker’s Commission has to quickly increase its efforts to find a way to actualise these Council Conclusions.
Conclusions highlighted several areas of action and call on the European Commission to:

• Produce and adopt a new EU Alcohol Strategy
• Monitor and evaluate the adequacy of the current measures in the online advertising of alcoholic beverages
• Support Member States in the framework of a new Joint Action – RARHA
• Support research and studies in areas such as for instance cross-border purchases
• Propose better provisions for alcohol labelling by the end of 2019

WHO’s Global status report on alcohol and health 2018 presents a comprehensive picture of alcohol consumption and the disease burden attributable to alcohol worldwide. It also describes what countries are doing to reduce this burden.

Source: Eurocare, 18/09/21

New and comprehensive study on the consumption of alcohol reveals worrying trends on alcohol use around the world. * Listen to this episode – duration 00:05:56 [mp3 3.5Mb] *
* Global status report on alcohol and health 2011 by the UN World Health Organization WHO (Source: Alcohol Reports, 03/21/11)

The 2011 edition of the Global status report on alcohol and health confirms that alcohol is a major threat to global public health and welfare. Drinking alcohol kills more people than HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis or violence. The new edition of the report was released in Geneva last Friday. This third edition of the Global status report on alcohol and health is yet another milestone in WHO’s efforts to document alcohol consumption, related harm and policy responses worldwide. The report is essential for all who work in alcohol prevention, nationally and internationally, and for governments and NGOs alike.
The report contains, among other things, the following:
* Latest figures on alcohol and health from the Global Burden of Disease material;
* Global trends in alcohol consumption, both recorded and unrecorded beverages;
* Consumption data for all countries of the world;
* Overview of recommended policies and interventions and how interventions have been applied in WHO members states;
* Country profiles for more than 100 countries.
(Source: WHO News release)

This conference will take place on Thursday the 23rd of September 2010 in Amsterdam (the Netherlands) and provides an overview of the state-of-the-art scientific knowledge about the effects of alcohol on physical health. Leading international scientists will elaborate on their findings regarding the effects of alcohol on heart, brains and liver and the relation of alcohol and cancer. Furthermore, the public message with respect to alcohol and health will be discussed.
Venue: Amsterdam: Pakhuis de Zwijger (www.dezwijger.nl), Time 9:00 am – 05:30 pm, Subscribe via www.stap.nl, Costs € 200,–

Within the framework of the European Alcohol and Health Forum a 2nd Open Forum will be held in Brussels (Centre Borschette) on 30 April 2009 from 10h00 till 17h00.
The Open Forum is a platform for exchange of information and for discussion with a broader range of interested parties, including Member States. It also provides networking possibilities between and among the different stakeholders who wish to contribute to the reduction of alcohol-related harm.
A draft programme (pdf) is available. A more detailed programme will be available closer to the Open Forum. Online registration will start early in April, and will be announced on this website. The number of attendants is limited to 250. Registrations will be processed in the order they are received. EU-Announcement, 3/26/09