New Report Recommends Public Health Focus on Harmful Drinking vs. Eliminating Consumption

 

 The traditional public health perspective on alcohol and noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) is challenged in a new paper from the International Center for Alcohol Policies (ICAP), Alcohol misuse and global health: The case for an inclusive approach to harmful drinking. ICAP has announced the publication of the paper as part of a collection of submissions on the role of health in the post-2015 development agenda. This new agenda, the World We Want, follows on from the Millennium Development Goals.

"The setting of a post-2015 development agenda offers a unique opportunity to bring non-communicable diseases into the next iteration of Millennium Development Goals," said ICAP President Marcus Grant, co-author of the submission. "As we have that discussion, it is important to note that the traditional public health perspective on alcohol consumption has focused on a narrow group of stakeholders, and in this paper, we propose a more comprehensive model that involves a broader group of stakeholders and resources, including alcohol producers."

In the past decade, there has been greater recognition of the impact of NCDs in both developed and developing countries. Harmful alcohol consumption is a contributing lifestyle factor for several of the most widespread of these diseases, with alcohol misuse accounting for 4% of global disease burden.  > > > >  Read More