The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | A new report by the World Health Organization (WHO) highlights that 2.6 million deaths per year are attributable to alcohol consumption.
This number accounts for 4.7 per cent of all deaths and 0.6 million deaths that occur as a result of psychoactive drug use. Notably, 2 million of alcohol and 0.4 million of drug-attributable deaths were among men, according to the Global Status Report on Alcohol, Health and Treatment of Substance Use Disorders published on Wednesday.
The report shows data on the public health impact of alcohol and drug use and the situation with alcohol consumption and treatment of substance use disorders worldwide. according to the report, an estimated 400 million people live with alcohol and drug use disorders globally. Of this, 209 million people live with alcohol dependence.
“Substance use severely harms individual health, increasing the risk of chronic diseases, and mental health conditions, and tragically resulting in millions of preventable deaths every year. It places a heavy burden on families and communities, increasing exposure to accidents, injuries, and violence,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO Director-General in a statement shared along with the report.
He adds that to build a healthier, more equitable society, countries must urgently commit to bold actions that reduce the negative health and social consequences of alcohol consumption and make treatment for substance use disorders accessible and affordable.
It shows that despite some reduction in alcohol-related death rates since 2010, the overall number of deaths due to alcohol consumption remains unacceptably high and amounts to 2.6 million in 2019, with the highest numbers in Europe and the African region.
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, an estimated 1.6 million deaths were from Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs), including 474,000 deaths from cardiovascular diseases and 401 000 from cancer. 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 increasing the risk of TB infection and mortality by suppressing a wide range of immune responses.
The highest proportion (13 per cent) of alcohol-attributable deaths in 2019 were among young people aged 20–39 years. When it comes to alcohol consumption trends, total alcohol per capita consumption in the world population decreased slightly from 5.7 litres in 2010 to 5.5 litres in 2019.
The level of alcohol consumption per capita among drinkers amounts on average to 27 grams of pure alcohol per day, roughly equivalent to two glasses of wine, two bottles of beer (33cl) or two servings of spirits (4cl). This level and frequency of drinking are associated with increased risks of numerous health conditions and associated mortality and disability.
In 2019, 38 per cent of current drinkers had engaged in heavy episodic drinking, defined as consuming at least 60g of pure alcohol on one or more occasions in the preceding month – roughly equivalent to 4 or 5 glasses of wine, bottles of beer or servings of spirits. Continuous heavy drinking was highly prevalent among men.
Globally, 23.5 per cent of all 15–19-year-olds were current drinkers. Rates of current drinking were highest among 15–19-year-olds in the European region (45.9 per cent) followed by the Americas (43.9 per cent).
When they assessed how and whether alcohol drinkers access treatment for the various substance use disorders, WHO officials found low coverage with less than 35 per cent of those who need treatment accessing it.
Most of the 145 countries that reported data did not have a specific budget line or data on governmental expenditures for the treatment of substance use disorders. Although mutual help and peer support groups are useful resources for people with substance use disorders, almost half of responding countries reported that they do not offer such support groups for substance use disorders.
Stigma, discrimination and misconceptions about the efficacy of treatment contribute to these critical gaps in treatment provision, as well as the continued low prioritization of substance use disorders by both governments and donors.
With these findings, the organization calls for more awareness by partly engaging civil society organizations, professional associations and people with lived experience in addition to governments allocating funds towards treatment of these disorders.
******
URN
