WHO: Alcohol was responsible for 2.6m global deaths in 2019

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says alcohol was responsible for 2.6 million deaths across the globe in 2019.

In an executive summary of the ‘Global status report on alcohol and health and treatment of substance use disorders, Tedros Ghebreyesus, director-general of WHO, said psychoactive drugs accounted for nearly 600,000 deaths.

In the report released on Tuesday, the WHO DG said psychoactive substance use also results in negative social and economic consequences for communities.

“As such, the impact of substance use on health and development is recognized in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development through Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) health target 3.5, which calls for strengthened prevention of substance use and treatment of substance use disorders,” Ghebreyesus said.

“This report presents a comprehensive global update on the status and progress around the two key indicators set out in SDG health target 3.5: alcohol consumption and treatment coverage for substance use disorders. It sets out eight priority areas where action needs to be taken.”

He said despite some reduction in alcohol consumption and related harm worldwide since 2010, the health and social burden due to alcohol use remains “unacceptably high”.

“Younger people are disproportionately affected by alcohol consumption: the highest proportion of alcohol-attributable deaths – 13% – in 2019 was among people aged 20-39 years,” he added.

“While we have seen a slight increase in the number of countries adopting national alcohol policies, little progress has been made in implementing the high-impact policy interventions proven to reduce alcohol-related harm, such as impactful pricing policies or comprehensive marketing and availability restrictions.

“The WHO Global Alcohol Action Plan 2022-2030 sets out these ‘best buys’ and supports countries to strengthen actions on reducing alcohol-related harms, but implementation efforts must be stepped up urgently.”

The report indicates that “the death rates due to alcohol consumption per litre of alcohol consumed are highest in low-income countries and lowest in high-income countries”.

“Of all deaths attributable to alcohol in 2019, an estimated 1.6 million deaths were from noncommunicable diseases, including 474,000 deaths from cardiovascular diseases and 401,000 from cancer,” the report reads.

“Some 724,000 deaths were due to injuries, such as those from traffic crashes, self-harm, and interpersonal violence. Another 284,000 deaths were linked to communicable diseases.

“For example, alcohol consumption has been shown to increase the risk of HIV transmission resulting from an increased risk of unprotected sex and by increasing the risk of TB infection and mortality by suppressing a wide range of immune responses.”