Authors: Allyn L. Taylor and Ibadat S. Dhillon

The perceived success of the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) in influencing national and global public health policies has led to growing interest in promulgating new international legal instruments to address global health issues—including calls for a Framework Convention on Alcohol Control (FCAC).The authors propose a gradual international legal strategy for alcohol control, starting with a non-binding code of practice focusing on areas of critical concern with wide political consensus, leading over time to a comprehensive binding treaty.

Edited by Peter Anderson, Lars Møller and Gauden Galea (WHO Regional Office for Europe)

Alcohol is one of the world’s top three priority areas in public health. Even though only half the global population drinks alcohol, it is the world’s third leading cause of ill health and premature death, after low birth weight and unsafe sex, and greater than tobacco. In Europe, alcohol is also the third leading risk factor for disease and mortality after tobacco and high blood pressure. This report presents the latest literature overview of effective alcohol policies, and includes data from the European Union, Norway and Switzerland in the areas of alcohol consumption, harm and policy approaches. The data presented were collected from a survey in 2011.

Full title: GAPA Statement of Concern - The international public health community responds to the global alcohol producers' attempts to influence the WHO global strategy on the harmful use of alcohol

Author: GAPA

On October 8th 2012, thirteen of world’s largest alcohol producers issued a set of commitments to reduce the harmful use of alcohol worldwide, ostensibly in support of the World Health Organization’s 2010 Global Strategy to Reduce the Harmful Use of Alcohol.

The Global Alcohol Policy Alliance (GAPA), as an independent coalition of public health professionals, health scientists and NGO representatives, submitted this public Statement of Concern to the WHO Secretariat in response to the activities of the global alcohol producers. Discussions on industry involvement at the AMPHORA project final conference have contributed to this document.

Author: The Lancet

The Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 (GBD 2010) is the largest ever systematic effort to describe the global distribution and causes of a wide array of major diseases, injuries, and health risk factors. It consists of seven articles, each containing a wealth of data on different aspects of the study.

According to this study, in 2010, tobacco smoking was the world’s second and alcohol the world’s third most important risk factor for disability adjusted life years (a composite measure of years lived with disability and years of life lost due to premature death), after high blood pressure. Alcohol moved up from 6th place in 1990, and tobacco from 3rd place. Drug use clocked in as 19th out of 20 risk factors in 2010, and did not make the top 20 in 1990.

Check here the complete list of articles of GBD 2010.

Edited by: Peter Anderson (Newcastle University and Maastricht University), Marc Suhrcke (University of East Anglia) and Chris Brookes (Health Action Partnership International)

This report by NHF/HAPI was commissioned by the European Commission to provide a European Union wide overview of the market and regulation regarding types of alcoholic beverages with potentially particular appeal to minors. This topic is important because minors are at disproportionately greater risk from the harmful effects of alcohol than their parents or adults in general, and harmful drinking patterns in early life can have lifelong consequences. Thus, if there are alcoholic beverages that particularly appeal to minors and contribute disproportionately to alcohol-related harm, it is important to know this. The report aims to provide better understanding of alcoholic beverages that appeal to minors and to inform those who have responsibility for advising on alcohol policy either at country or European levels.