The Addiction editorial by Robin Room, Jürgen Rehm and Charles Parry point out that this year the United Nations General Assembly sessions,will hold a special session on non-communicable diseases (NCDs), emphasizing the importance of addressing such diseases in order to reduce the global burden of illness.
Together with smoking, diet and physical inactivity, consumption of alcohol is among the four most important risk factors for non-communicable disease (NCD). Alcohol consumption, especially heavy consumption, impacts on cancer, liver cirrhosis and stroke. To reduce the burden of NCD, effective alcohol policies should be implemented locally, nationally and internationally, argues the authors.
They claim that the case for increased priority being given to act on alcohol to address NCDs and other public health concerns is now very strong. In this context, the relative lack of action on alcohol is increasingly indefensible. The September meeting at the United Nations is an occasion for remedying this, and for taking concrete steps to increase the resources at the international level devoted to alcohol policy issues. > > > > Read More
