The WHO Executive Board in its 122nd session at Geneva in January 2009 has unanimously  recommended the World Health Assembly the adoption of a resolution requesting the WHO Director General to prepare a draft global strategy to reduce harmful use of alcohol that is based on all available evidence and existing best practices and that addresses relevant policy options, taking into account different national, religious and cultural contexts, including national public health problems, needs and priorities, and differences in Member States’ resources, capacities and capabilities.  The draft global strategy will have to be composed of a set of proposed measures recommended for states to implement at the national level taking into account the national circumstances of each country.

In May 2008, the World Health Assembly has adopted a resolution (WHA 61.4), calling on the WHO Director-General to prepare a draft global strategy to reduce harmful consumption of alcohol. The draft strategy is to be based on all available evidence and existing best practices and address relevant policy options, taking into account the different national, religious and cultural contexts.
In preparing the draft, the Director-General is to collaborate and consult with the Member States as well as to consult with intergovernmental organisations, health professionals, NGOs and economic operators on ways they could contribute to reducing harmful use of alcohol.

The resolution also urges the 193 Member States to collaborate with the WHO Secretariat in developing the draft strategy and to develop systems to monitor alcohol consumption, the consequences of that consumption and the policy responses to it. It also urges them to consider strengthening national responses to reduce alcohol related harm.

The draft strategy will be discussed at the 63rd World Health Assembly in May 2010.

The Assistant Director-General for Non-communicable Diseases and Mental Health, Dr. Ala Alwan, clarified that all consultations with the economic operators and other stakeholders would comply with WHO rules for appropriate contact with such parties and would avoid conflicts of interest.

The passage of the resolution is the result of a long process, including a resolution in 2005, discussions without conclusion during the 60th World Health Assembly, informal WHO Consultation with Member States and the passing of a draft resolution at the WHO Executive Board in January this year. The draft was proposed by Rwanda on behalf of the African Member States.

The debate at the World Health Assembly was long, with 36 Member States taking the floor to intervene. Most of them thanked the Director General and the Secretariat for the good work done and the Report on Strategies to Reduce the Harmful Use of Alcohol prepared by the Secretariat. Many countries had strong interests in the issue and the suspense was prolonged until the very end.

According to the aforementioned Report (A61/13) , which served as the background for the debate, harmful use of alcohol is one of the main factors contributing to premature deaths and avoidable disease burden worldwide; and has a major impact on public health. Although there are regional, national and local differences in levels, patterns and context of drinking, in 2002 the harmful use of alcohol was estimated to cause about 2.3 million premature deaths worldwide (3.7% of global mortality) and to be responsible for 4.4% of the global burden of disease, even when the protective effects of low and moderate alcohol consumption on morbidity and mortality were taken into consideration.

The Global Alcohol Policy Alliance (GAPA) has welcomed the passing of the WHA resolution: "We are pleased that at last WHO has responded to the epidemic of alcohol problems that is increasing with growing alcohol consumption in all parts of the world. GAPA calls on WHO to develop strong evidence based global strategy to reduce these problems. We particularly note that the resolution properly distinguishes the roles of commercial and other participants in the development of the strategy and rejects WHO collaboration with the alcoholic beverage industry. GAPA looks forward to working with WHO and other civil society organisations in the important task before us."

Related documents:

Resolution EB122/10 from the WHO Executive Board which constituted the starting point for the discussion at the World Health Assembly

Report by the Secretariat on Strategies to Reduce the Harmful Use of Alcohol

The text adopted by the WHO Executive Board

Strategies to Reduce the Harmful Use of Alcohol