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ONE IN 20 GLOBAL DEATHS
CAUSED BY ALCOHOL, SAYS WHO
MORE THAN 3M PEOPLE DIED AS A RESULT OF HARMFUL
ALCOHOL USE in 2016, according to the World Health
Organization (WHO), representing one in 20 deaths
worldwide. More than three quarters of those who died
were men, with alcohol now responsible for more than 5
per cent of the global disease burden.
Despite some ‘positive global trends’, the overall
burden of disease and injuries caused by alcohol is
‘unacceptably high’, particularly in Europe and the
Americas, says Global status report on alcohol and health
2018. Of all the deaths attributable to alcohol, 28 per cent
were the result of injuries – including traffic accidents
and violence – while 21 per cent were due to digestive
disorders, 19 per cent to cardiovascular diseases and the
remainder the result of cancers, infectious diseases,
mental health disorders and other health conditions.
Globally, an estimated 2.3bn people are current
drinkers, with 237m men and 46m women suffering
from alcohol use disorders. These are most common in
high-income countries, with prevalence rates of 14.8 and
3.5 per cent for men and women respectively in the
European region and 11.5 and 5.1 per cent in the region
of the Americas. Although drinking levels in Europe have
been falling since the start of the decade, the region still
has the highest per capita consumption in the world.
Worldwide, 45 per cent of total recorded alcohol
consumption is in the form of spirits, 34 per cent beer and
12 per cent wine, with the average consumption among
those who drink standing at 33 grams of pure alcohol per
day, the equivalent of two 150ml glasses of wine.
‘All countries can do much more to reduce the health
and social costs of the harmful use of alcohol,’ said
coordinator of WHO’s management of substance abuse
unit, Dr Vladimir Poznyak. ‘Proven, cost-effective actions
include increasing taxes on alcoholic drinks, bans or
restrictions on alcohol advertising, and restricting the
physical availability of alcohol.’
C SUPPORT
A NEW RESOURCE providing
practical and emotional
support to the loved ones of
people living with – or at
risk of – hepatitis C has been
launched by Adfam.
‘Managed well, hepatitis C
needn’t interfere too much
with family life,’ says
Information and advice for
the families of people living
with hepatitis C.
Available at adfam.org.uk.
See centre pages of this issue
for our pull-out hepatitis C
supplement.
www.drinkanddrugsnews.com
Meanwhile,
a new study by
the Alcohol
Health Alliance
(AHA) claims
that fewer than
10 per cent of
alcohol labels in
the UK carry the
government’s
current 14 units
per week
guidelines. A
review of 320
labels in 12
locations across
the country
found that
most products
displayed out of
date guidelines
and carried no
health
warnings. ‘Once
again we see
that the alcohol
Dr VlADimir PoznyAk
industry cannot
be trusted to
provide the public with health information,’ said AHA chair
Professor Sir Ian Gilmore. ‘We all have the right to know
what we are drinking and the fact that alcohol increases
our risk of seven types of cancer, liver disease, heart
disease and stroke. Few of us know or understand these
risks or are aware of the CMO’s advice.’
Global status report on alcohol and health 2018 at
www.who.int
Our right to know at ahauk.org
‘All countries can
do much more to
reduce the health
and social costs.’
HALF MEASURES
PORTUGAL’S ‘HUGELY INFLUENTIAL’
DECRIMINALISATION MODEL does not
represent ‘full decriminalisation’, according to
an INPUD report. While discussion of the
Portuguese model tends to focus on HIV and
drug-related deaths, it rarely includes the ‘lived
experiences, perspectives, and rights of the
drug-using community’, the document says.
‘Interactions with the state and the police, and
issues of violence, social exclusion,
stigmatisation and discrimination are often
entirely omitted from discussion and analysis
of decriminalisation in Portugal’, it states, with
people who use drugs still ‘stopped, searched,
and harassed by the police’. Is decriminalisation
enough? Drug user community voices from
Portugal at www.inpud.net
TAKE ACTION
APPLICATIONS TO STUDY Action on
Addiction’s September 2019 foundation
degree in addictions counselling at the
University of Bath are now open. The FDAP-
accredited course provides students with the
vocational skills necessary to become a
practitioner in the treatment field.
More information at
www.actiononaddiction.org.uk/study-with-us.
PROBLEM PLEDGE
US PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP told a UN
event, the ‘Global call to action on the world
drug problem’, that he aimed to ‘deliver a
drug-free future for all of our children’ by
working together with delegate countries to
reduce demand, block the illegal drug supply,
expand treatment and strengthen
international cooperation. Meanwhile a new
report from the Global Commission on Drug
Policy looks at how governments could ‘take
control of currently illegal drug markets
through responsible regulation’, and calls for
reform of the ‘prohibition-based international
drug control system’. Regulation: the
responsible control of drugs at
www.globalcommissionondrugs.org
SEEING THE LIGHT
THERE ARE 1M FEWER SMOKERS in England
than four years ago, according to PHE, with
almost 400,000 giving up the habit last year.
‘Millions of people are living healthier lives as
a result of our efforts to reduce smoking
rates,’ said public health minister Steve Brine.
‘Quitting altogether is the single best thing a
smoker can do for their health.’ Statistics at
www.smokinginenglan d.info
GILMORE GONE
THE CO-CHAIR OF PHE’S ALCOHOL
LEADERSHIP BOARD has resigned over the
agency’s partnership with industry-funded
Drinkaware for its ‘Drink Free Days’
campaign. Professor Sir Ian Gilmore had
previously expressed objections to the
partnership, citing a ‘clear conflict of interest’
between the drinks industry’s objectives and
public health goals. The campaign marks the
first time that PHE has joined forces with an
industry-funded organisation, with a joint
letter to the Times from Professor Gilmore
and Professor John Britton, director of the UK
Centre for Tobacco and Alcohol Studies,
stating that the partnership demonstrated ‘a
failure at senior level’ to learn the lessons of
how voluntary agreements had been used by
the alcohol and tobacco industries to
‘undermine, water down or otherwise
neutralise’ policies to cut consumption.
October 2018 | drinkanddrugsnews | 5