May 20, 2010

The Global Strategy to Reduce the Harmful Use of Alcohol was adopted by consensus at the annual assembly of the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Thursday 20 May. According to news agency Reuters health ministers agreed to try to curb binge drinking and other growing forms of excessive alcohol use through higher taxes on alcoholic drinks and tighter marketing regulations.

The WHO estimates that risks linked to alcohol cause 2.5 million deaths a year from heart and liver disease, road accidents, suicides and various cancers — 3.8 percent of all deaths. It is the third leading risk factor for premature deaths and disabilities worldwide.

“Alcohol is usually not perceived as a killer, though it is,” Shekhar Saxena, director of WHO’s Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, told a news briefing.
Despite growing abuse and youth drinking at an earlier age in many countries, half of WHO members do not have a national alcohol policy, according to WHO expert Vladimir Poznyak.

“The biggest changes might happen in those countries which have no alcohol control institutions or regulatory framework for alcohol consumption,” he told Reuters.

Alcohol Policy - A Development Issue

The Norwegian Campaign for Development and Solidarity (FORUT) points to the fact that alcohol constitutes a double-sided problem in the developing world. On the one hand, drinking is in many places a severe and additional burden to the poor and underprivileged. On the other hand, we also see that new drinking habits, increasing consumption levels, and rising problems occur among a growing middle class in a number of countries. Planned and evidence-based strategies is the best way to prevent new problems from arising, and the new WHO Strategy points at many effective alternative actions for governments as well as for NGOs, says Morten Lønstad of FORUT.

Place: Brussels
Date: 21 – 22 June 2010

This conference will be the fourth in a series of alcohol policy conferences (Warsaw 2004, Helsinki 2006, Barcelona 2008).

The scope and purpose of the conference is to promote and disseminate knowledge about current thinking on alcohol and alcohol policy matters, to build capacity and promote networking and coalition building between and within the European countries, and to provide the opportunity of profiling the ECs communication on alcohol, as well as relevant EC co-financed projects.

In addition, in May 2010 the WHA will have voted on the adoption of the Global Alcohol Strategy. Europe has a strong position and responsibility, being the world's leader on alcohol consumption and an important exporter of alcoholic beverages.

More detailed information can be found here.

The "African Centre for Research and Information on Substance Abuse (CRISA)" has now announced its Ninth Biennial International Conference on “Drugs and Society in Africa” scheduled to take place in Abuja, Nigeria, 11-12 August 2010. This year’s CRISA conference will focus on the role of alcohol and other drugs use in the HIV/AIDS epidemics in different African societies. Interested researchers in various disciplines, policy experts, practitioners, representatives of NGOs and students are invited to submit abstracts of papers for presentation at the conference.

Sub-themes:
Epidemiology of substance use and HIV/AIDS; Social factors in HIV and substance abuse; Alcohol and high risk sexual behaviours; Injecting drug use and HIV; Approaches to the prevention of substance use and HIV; Drug use and the course of HIV/AIDS; Alcohol and other STIs; Adherence to anti-retroviral therapy (ART) and other treatment issues; HIV, drugs and mental health; Substance abuse, infectious diseases and social development

More detailed information about the event can be found here.

Place: Maynooth, Ireland
Date: 24-27 August 2010

For centuries we have been confronted with "crisis" notions of maternal consumption throughout Europe. Recent treatments of alcohol and health have reiterated these feminized concerns. Without engaging in "problem deflation" we will interrogate how crises are imagined and sustained.

More detailed information can be found here.

Dutch Institute for Alcohol Policy

The first Dutch conference on ALCOHOL and HEALTH will take place on Thursday the 23rd of September 2010 in Amsterdam (the Netherlands). This conference provides an overview of the state-of-the-art scientific knowledge about the Effects of alcohol on physical health. Leading International scientists will elaborate on their findings regarding the effects of alcohol on heart, brains and liver and the relation of alcohol and cancer.
Furthermore, the public message with respect to alcohol and health will be discussed.