The World Health Organization (WHO) launched the SAFER initiative in 2018 to address the global health and societal challenges posed by alcohol-related harm. The initiative outlines five key strategies aimed at reducing
...
alcohol consumption and its associated consequences. These include strengthening restrictions on alcohol availability by implementing and enforcing policies to limit its accessibility and advancing drink-driving countermeasures, such as low blood alcohol concentration limits and random breath testing, to reduce alcohol-impaired driving incidents.
Additionally, SAFER emphasizes facilitating access to screening, brief interventions, and treatment for individuals with alcohol use disorders, ensuring that healthcare systems are equipped to provide effective support. Another core strategy is enforcing comprehensive bans or restrictions on alcohol advertising, sponsorship, and promotion to minimize its influence, particularly on vulnerable populations such as youth. Finally, the initiative advocates raising alcohol prices through excise taxes and pricing policies to make it less affordable and thereby reduce consumption.
By implementing these evidence-based, cost-effective measures, the SAFER initiative aims to reduce the global burden of alcohol-related deaths and disabilities, fostering healthier societies worldwide.
more
Alcohol can be a source of enjoyment. However, it can also be a drug or a source of addiction, with negative consequences for your health and the people around you.
Accessed: 14.03.2019
The World Health Organization's Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (WHO EMRO) highlights the significant health and social consequences of harmful alcohol use. Excessive alcohol
...
consumption is linked to over 200 diseases and injuries, including liver cirrhosis, pancreatitis, various cancers, hemorrhagic stroke, and hypertension. Globally, it results in approximately 3.3 million deaths annually, surpassing fatalities from HIV/AIDS, violence, or tuberculosis. In the Eastern Mediterranean Region, while overall alcohol consumption is low, there is a concerning rise among adolescents and young adults, with patterns of heavy episodic drinking posing significant health risks. In response, the WHO has developed a global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol, aiming to improve health and social outcomes by decreasing disease and death associated with alcohol consumption.
more
The Global status report on alcohol and health and treatment of substance use disorders presents a comprehensive overview of alcohol consumption,
...
alcohol-related harm and policy responses as well as treatment capacities for alcohol and drug use disorders worldwide. The report is based on data collected by WHO from Member States and organized in accordance with the Sustainable Development Goals health target 3.5 which calls on countries to strengthen “the prevention and treatment of substance abuse, including narcotic drug abuse and harmful use of alcohol”. The chapter on alcohol and health continues the series of WHO global status reports on alcohol and health and presents the latest available data on the status of, and trends in, alcohol consumption, as well as estimates of the alcohol-attributable disease burden and descriptions of policy responses worldwide. On the basis of data collected from countries on the treatment of substance use disorders the report describes the status of key components of treatment responses to alcohol and drug use disorders and proposes a new service capacity index for these disorders as an additional contextual indicator for monitoring progress in this domain of SDG health target 3.5. The report concludes with broad directions for international action to accelerate progress towards achievement of SDG health target 3.5.
more
This short brief describes the main findings and the key lessons learned from the research project "Evaluation of the impact of alcohol control policies on morbidity and mortality in Lithuania and other Baltic states", funded by the United States Na
...
tional Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism for the period 2000–2025. The WHO-backed project aims to assess the effects of alcohol control policies implemented in Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and to investigate the impact they have had on both people's health and the countries' economies, based on concrete actions taken. The key findings of the project demonstrate that alcohol control policies such as taxation and availability measures decrease all-cause mortality and reduce inequalities, and that dismantling alcohol control policies has the opposite effect on population health. They also highlight that consumption of unrecorded alcohol will not necessarily go up if taxation is increased and that specific countermeasures can be taken to prevent an increase in unrecorded consumption.
more
The document provides Information on alcohol use (risk factors, evaluation alcohol use etc.) in a descriptive way.
The pamphlet "Alcohol and Depressants" explains the effects of depressants, including alcohol. Depressants slow brain activity by increasing the release of inhibitory neurotransmitters like GABA, le
...
ading to effects such as sedation, decreased anxiety, and reduced heart rate. Alcohol, a legal depressant, causes short-term effects like impaired judgment, vomiting, and blackouts, while long-term use can result in alcoholism, liver disease, strokes, and cancer. Alcohol withdrawal can be life-threatening, causing seizures and heart complications. The pamphlet emphasizes the importance of safe usage and provides resources for treatment and further information.
more
Esta hoja informativa destaca la relación entre el consumo de alcohol y la COVID-19. El alcohol se utiliza a menudo para la socialización y por algunas personas para hacer frente a las emociones d
...
ifíciles como la ansiedad, el miedo, la depresión, el aburrimiento y la incertidumbre, todo lo cual aumentó durante la pandemia de COVID-19, con el consiguiente incremento en el consumo de alcohol, especialmente en quienes ya bebían en exceso.
more
The World Health Organization (WHO) provides an overview of alcohol consumption and its global impact. Alcohol, containing ethanol, is a psychoacti
...
ve and toxic substance that can lead to dependence. In 2019, alcohol consumption was responsible for approximately 2.6 million deaths worldwide, with 1.6 million resulting from noncommunicable diseases, 700,000 from injuries, and 300,000 from communicable diseases. Men accounted for the majority of these deaths, totaling 2 million, compared to 600,000 among women. Additionally, an estimated 400 million people aged 15 and older were living with alcohol use disorders in 2019.
more
This fact sheet highlights the relationship between alcohol consumption and COVID-19. Heavy episodic drinking is considered a health risk for COVID-19, and
...
alcohol is used by some to cope with difficult emotions that increased during the pandemic.
more
The IHME webpage discusses alcohol use as a significant global health risk, responsible for over 1.8 million deaths annually. It highlights age-related differences in alcohol's health impacts, with
...
no benefits for individuals aged 15–39 and potential small benefits for those aged 40 and above under certain conditions. The page emphasizes the need to consider factors like age, disease patterns, and individual health in assessing alcohol-related risks.
more