DUE TO harmful use of alcohol, more than 3 million of people died in 2016.
In a report made by the World Health Organization (WHO), this represents 1 in 20 deaths, and more than three quarters of these casualties were among men.
Overall, the harmful use of alcohol causes more than 5 percent of the global disease burden.
WHO’s report titled “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.
Too many people, their families and communities suffer the consequences of the harmful use of alcohol through violence, injuries, mental health problems, and diseases like cancer and stroke.
Of all deaths attributable to alcohol, 28 percent were due to injuries, such as those from traffic accidents, self-harm and interpersonal violence; 21 percent due to digestive disorders; 19 percent due to cardiovascular diseases; and the remainder due to infectious diseases, cancers, mental disorders and other health conditions.
Globally, an estimated 237 million men and 46 million women suffer from alcohol-use disorders with the highest prevalence among men and women in the European region (14.8 percent and 3.5 percent) and the Region of Americas (11.5 percent and 5.1 percent).
An estimated 2.3 billion people are current drinkers, and alcohol is consumed by more than half of the population in three WHO regions – the Americas, Europe and the Western Pacific.
The average daily consumption of people who drink alcohol is 33 grams of pure alcohol a day, roughly equivalent to 2 glasses (each of 150 ml) of wine, a large (750 ml) bottle of beer or two shots (each of 40 ml) of spirits.
Worldwide, more than 27 percent of all 15-19-year-olds are current drinkers.
School surveys also indicate that, in many countries, alcohol use starts before the age of 15 with very small differences between boys and girls.
Worldwide, 45 percent of total recorded alcohol is consumed in the form of spirits.
Beer is the second alcoholic beverage in terms of pure alcohol consumed (34 percent) followed by wine (12 percent).
Worldwide, there have been only minor changes in preferences of alcoholic beverages since 2010.
All countries can do much more to reduce the health and social costs of the harmful use of alcohol.
Proven, cost-effective actions include increasing taxes on alcoholic drinks, bans or restrictions on alcohol advertising, and restricting the physical availability of alcohol.
Almost all (95 percent) countries have alcohol excise taxes, but fewer than half of them use other price strategies such as banning below-cost selling or volume discounts.
Majority of countries have some type of restriction on beer advertising, with total bans most common for television and radio but less common for the internet and social media.
Reducing the harmful use of alcohol will help achieve a number of health-related targets of WHO’s Sustainable Development Goals, including those for maternal and child health, infectious diseases, non-communicable diseases and mental health, injuries and poisonings. (jaypeeyap@ymail.com/PN)
