1. In resolution WHA61.4 (Strategies to reduce the harmful use of alcohol) the Health Assemblyrequested the Director-General to submit to the Sixty-third World Health Assembly, through theExecutive Board, a draft global strategy to reduce harmful use of alcohol. The Health Assembly urged Member States to collaborate with the Secretariat in developing a draft global strategy, and further requested the Director-General to collaborate and consult with Member States, as well as to consult with intergovernmental organizations, health professionals, nongovernmental organizations and economic operators on ways they could contribute to reducing harmful use of alcohol.
2. The Secretariat has drafted a strategy (Annex 1) through an inclusive and broad collaborative process with Member States. In doing so, the Secretariat took into consideration the outcomes of consultations with other stakeholders on ways in which they can contribute to reducing the harmful use of alcohol. The draft strategy is based on existing best practices and available evidence of effectiveness and cost–effectiveness of strategies and interventions to reduce the harmful use of alcohol; this evidence is summarized in Annex 2.
3. The consultative process started with a public, web-based hearing from 3 October to 15 November 2008, giving Member States and other stakeholders an opportunity to submit proposals on ways to reduce harmful use of alcohol. Two separate round-table discussions, one with nongovernmental organizations and health professionals and the other with economic operators, were organized in Geneva in November 2008 in order to collect views on ways these stakeholders could contribute to reducing harmful use of alcohol. Subsequently, a consultation with selected intergovernmental organizations was held (Geneva, 8 September 2009).
4. The Secretariat began work on a draft strategy by preparing a discussion paper for further consultations with Member States. That paper was formulated on the basis of the deliberations of WHO’s governing bodies and several regional committee sessions as well as the similar outcomes of those bodies pertaining to other related areas such as noncommunicable diseases, mental health, violence and injury prevention, cancer, family and community health, social determinants of health, HIV/AIDS, and trade and health. The discussion paper was also influenced by the outcomes of the Secretariat’s technical activities on alcohol and health, including the relevant meetings of technical experts. The discussion paper was sent to the Member States and posted on the WHO web site.
5. Six regional technical consultations were held between February and May 2009, attended by participants nominated by governments of 149 Member States. Three consultations were held in the WHO Regional Offices for Africa, Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean. The governments of Brazil, Thailand and New Zealand, respectively, hosted the consultations for Member States in the Region of the Americas and the South-East Asia and Western Pacific Regions. In all these regional consultations, Member States were invited to provide their views on the possible areas for global action and coordination outlined in the discussion paper, and on how the strategy could best take into account national needs and priorities. In addition, Member States were encouraged to provide information on current national and subregional processes that could contribute to the strategy development process, as well as examples of best practices, with special emphasis on at-risk populations, young people and those affected by the harmful drinking of others.
6. To write a working document for developing a draft global strategy to reduce harmful use of alcohol, the Secretariat built on the outcomes of the regional consultations with Member States and taking into consideration the outcomes of the previous consultative process with all stakeholders on ways in which they could contribute to reducing the harmful use of alcohol. The resulting document provided background information, suggested aims, objectives and guiding principles for a global strategy, target areas and a set of policy measures and interventions that it was proposed Member States could implement at the national level. The working document was sent to Member States in August 2009 with an invitation for written feed-back on its content, and posted on the WHO web site. The Secretariat received written feedback from 40 Member States.
7. To continue the collaboration with Member States on the draft strategy the Secretariat held an informal consultation with Member States on 8 October 2009 in Geneva in order to discuss the feedback on the working document and to offer an opportunity for Member States to provide further guidance on finalizing a draft global strategy. Further taking into account the outcome of that informal consultation, the Secretariat finalized a draft global strategy.
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