Alcohol

Additional Information

Monitoring Alcohol Marketing in Africa MAMPA Project

Factsheet

Key Facts

Worldwide, 3.3 million deaths every year result from harmful use of alcohol,² this represent 5.9 % of all deaths.
The harmful use of alcohol is a causal factor in more than 200 disease and injury conditions.
Overall 5.1 % of the global burden of disease and injury is attributable to alcohol, as measured in disability- adjusted life years (DALYs).³
Alcohol consumption causes death and disability relatively early in life. In the age group 20 – 39 years approximately 25 % of the total deaths are alcohol-attributable.
There is a causal relationship between harmful use of alcohol and a range of mental and behavioural disorders, other noncommunicable conditions as well as injuries.
The latest causal relationships have been established between harmful drinking and incidence of infectious diseases such as tuberculosis as well as the course of HIV/AIDS.
Beyond health consequences, the harmful use of alcohol brings significant social and economic losses to individuals and society at large.

The African Region is faced with a growing burden of harmful alcohol consumption and its disastrous effects. There is no other consumer product as widely available as alcohol that accounts for as much premature death and disability.

There are two main characteristics that describe alcohol consumption patterns in the Region: a high level of alcohol abstention in some countries and high volume consumption with severe health and social consequences in others.

Alcohol use has immediate and long-term effects that increase the risks associated with numerous health conditions. Alcohol is a leading cause of risky sexual behaviours such as unprotected sex, sex with multiple partners, and produces an increased risk of sexual assault. These behaviours can result in unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as human papillomavirus (HPV) and HIV.

In the Region, HPV is a significant threat and is the leading cause of cervical cancer. Alcohol is also known to increase cancer of the liver, breast, colon, oesophagus, throat and mouth.

Heart attacks, strokes and high blood pressure – all significant health conditions in the Region – can develop from the harmful use of alcohol. Alcoholic hepatitis and scarring of the liver are also devastating outcomes of alcohol use.

Key facts

WHO aims to reduce the health burden caused by the harmful use of alcohol and, thereby, to save lives, prevent injuries and diseases and improve the well-being of individuals, communities and society at large.

WHO emphasizes the development, implementation and evaluation of cost-effective interventions for harmful use of alcohol as well as creating, compiling and disseminating scientific information on alcohol use and dependence, and related health and social consequences.

In 2010, the World Health Assembly approved a resolution endorsing a global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol. The resolution urges countries to strengthen national responses to public health problems caused by the harmful use of alcohol.

The global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol represents a collective commitment by WHO Member States to reduce the global burden of disease caused by harmful use of alcohol. The strategy includes evidence-based policies and interventions that can protect health and save lives if adopted, implemented and enforced. The strategy also contains a set of principles to guide the development and implementation of policies; it sets priority areas for global action, recommends target areas for national action and gives a strong mandate to WHO to strengthen action at all levels.

The policy options and interventions available for national action can be grouped into 10 recommended target areas, which are mutually supportive and complementary. The 10 areas are:

leadership, awareness and commitment
health services’ response
community action
drink–driving policies and countermeasures
availability of alcohol
marketing of alcoholic beverages
pricing policies
reducing the negative consequences of drinking and alcohol intoxication
reducing the public health impact of illicit alcohol and informally produced alcohol
monitoring and surveillance.

The Global Information System on Alcohol and Health (GISAH) has been developed by WHO to dynamically present data on levels and patterns of alcohol consumption, alcohol-attributable health and social consequences and policy responses at all levels.

Successful implementation of the strategy will require action by countries, effective global governance and appropriate engagement of all relevant stakeholders. By effectively working together, the negative health and social consequences of alcohol can be reduced.

Footnotes

Based on the Global status report on alcohol and health 2014.
The Global strategy refers only to public-health effects of alcohol consumption, without prejudice to religious beliefs and cultural norms in any way. The concept of “harmful use of alcohol” in this context is different from “harmful use of alcohol” as a diagnostic category in the ICD-10 Classification of Mental and Behavioural Disorders (WHO, 1992).
The disability-adjusted life year (DALY) extends the concept of potential years of life lost due to premature death to include equivalent years of "healthy" life lost by virtue of being in states of poor health or disability.