WHO

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is the United Nations agency specialising in health and health promotion worldwide. The organisation is responsible for providing direction and guidance on health matters, monitoring and assessing health trends, and setting standards for the provision of healthcare.

WHO has identified alcohol as the fifth leading risk factor for premature death and disability in the world and the third leading contributor to disease burden in developed countries. WHO has called for comprehensive policy measures to reduce alcohol-related harm, not just for drinkers but also for those individuals and groups who are at risk of being negatively affected by others’ drinking.

The impact of problem alcohol use is greatest in the European region which has the highest alcohol consumption of all WHO regions – twice as high as the world average. The WHO Regional Office for Europe has played a significant role in facilitating policy formulation and action to address harmful alcohol use at national and regional levels within Europe. Policy guidance includes the European Alcohol Action Plan and a Framework for alcohol policy in the WHO European Region.

Global Strategy on Alcohol

In May 2008, the World Health Assembly, the supreme decision-making body for WHO, passed a resolution calling for the development of a draft global strategy to reduce harmful alcohol use. It is recognised that countries cannot tackle alcohol-related problems in isolation, particularly in light of the globalisation of the production, trade and marketing of alcoholic beverages, as well as the development of free trade agreements that have impacted on the ability of national and local governments to regulate alcohol markets in the interests of public health. The draft strategy will be presented to the World Health Assembly in May 2010 for adoption. The strategy aims to be adopted by consensus and will not be legally binding for Member States.

The World Health Assembly

The World Health Assembly generally meets in Geneva each year. The main purpose of the World Health Assembly is to approve WHO’s programme of work and the budget, and to decide on major policy questions. The World Health Assembly (WHA) is attended by delegations from 193 member states. All countries which are Members of the United Nations may become members of WHO by accepting its Constitution.

Member state delegations to the WHA are made up of government representatives, usually from departments or ministries of health. The UK representative in previous years has been the Chief Medical Officer for England.