Global status report on alcohol and health 2018

World Health Organization, 2018. — 452 p. — ISBN 978-92-4-156563-9.Alcohol use is part of many cultural, religious and social practices, and provides perceived pleasure to many users. This new report shows the other side of alcohol: the lives its harmful use claims, the diseases it triggers, the violence and injuries it causes, and the pain and suffering endured as a result.
This report presents a comprehensive picture of how harmful alcohol use impacts population health, and identifies the best ways to protect and promote the health and well-being of people.
It also shows the levels and patterns of alcohol consumption worldwide, the health and social consequences of harmful alcohol use, and how countries are working to reduce this burden.
While less than half of the world’s adults have consumed alcohol in the last 12 months, the global burden of disease caused by its harmful use is enormous. Disturbingly, it exceeds those caused by many other risk factors and diseases high on the global health agenda.
Over 200 health conditions are linked to harmful alcohol use, ranging from liver diseases, road injuries and violence, to cancers, cardiovascular diseases, suicides, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS.
Although the highest levels of alcohol consumption are in Europe, Africa bears the heaviest burden of disease and injury attributed to alcohol.
The report finds that while inaction on alcohol control is widespread, there is also hope. For example, political commitment at the highest level to implement effective interventions has contributed substantially to the sharp reduction of alcohol use and related harm in eastern Europe.
The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) aim to provide a more equitable and sustainable future for all people by 2030, ensuring that no one is left behind. While the agenda’s goals have health targets on substance abuse and addressing noncommunicable diseases, reducing alcohol-related harm also increases the chances of reaching other targets.
Maintaining the momentum towards the SDGs is only possible if countries demonstrate the political will and capacity to meet the different targets. Countries have committed to bring about change as part of the Global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol and the WHO Global action plan for the prevention and control of NCDs 2013–2020.
Now the task we share is to help countries put in place policies that make a real and measurable difference in people’s lives.
We have no time to waste; it is time to deliver on alcohol control.