Harmful alcohol consumption kills a person every ten seconds. The World Health Organization (WHO) calls on states to strengthen legislation against the harmful effects of alcohol.
Every ten seconds someone dies from alcohol in the world. In its latest report, the World Health Organization (WHO) is concerned about harmful alcohol consumption and its effects on health. In 2012 alone, it killed more than 3 million people.
16% express drinking
Less than 40% of the world’s population drink alcohol. But each drinker ingests the equivalent of 17 liters of pure alcohol each year. A high dose with serious consequences: 7% of men and 4% of women die from an alcohol-related cause. What worries the WHO is not so much the simple absorption of wines, beers and other spirits, but rather the profile of consumption. And the practice of binge drinking, which has devastating health consequences, is booming. “We have found that around 16% of drinkers around the world occasionally consume large amounts of alcohol, while ‘express drinking’ is the most unhealthy form of drinking,” says Dr Shekhar Saxena, Director of the WHO Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse.
A lack of national policies
Dependence, cirrhosis of the liver, infectious diseases, violence… The risks of harmful alcohol consumption are legion. According to the WHO, it is at risk of developing more than 200 non-infectious diseases. But the states are not doing enough, in the eyes of the agency. “More must be done to protect populations against the negative health consequences of alcohol consumption,” says Dr Oleg Chestnov, WHO Assistant Director-General in charge of the Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health Cluster.
Some efforts are welcomed by the WHO: increase in taxes on alcoholic beverages, regulation of their sale, or even the age limit for consumption and purchase of alcohol. However, this report underlines the flagrant lack of national policies to combat the harmful consumption of alcohol, which only 66 Member States out of 1964 have put in place. The UN health agency also calls for strengthening national awareness policies, as well as prevention and treatment services. She particularly insists on the need to include communities in these initiatives.
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