The recent WHO report emphasises urgent global action to reduce the severe impact of alcohol and drug use, focusing on high mortality rates and limited treatment accessibility.

By First Check Team

The World Health Organization recently released Global status report on alcohol and health and treatment of substance use disorders which reveals that alcohol and drug use contribute to a significant number of deaths worldwide each year. Alcohol alone is responsible for 2.6 million deaths annually, while psychoactive drugs lead to about 0.6 million deaths.

Most of these deaths occur among men, especially young adults aged 20-39. Despite effective treatments being available, very few people who need help actually receive it, from less than 1% to at most 35% in 2019, according to available data.

The report, delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, highlights persistent high death rates from alcohol, particularly in Europe and Africa. The report says more people die from alcohol-related causes in low-income countries than in high-income ones.

In 2019, alcohol caused about 1.6 million deaths worldwide. These deaths result from noncommunicable diseases, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer, injuries like car accidents and violence along with some deaths linked to diseases like HIV and tuberculosis, which alcohol can make worse by weakening the immune system.

The report says that worldwide, about 400 million people have problems with alcohol and drugs. Of these, 209 million are dependent on alcohol. WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus stresses the urgent need for affordable treatment and actions to reduce these harms and achieve global health goals by 2030.

Efforts are needed to decrease alcohol and drug consumption and improve access to treatment to prevent unnecessary deaths and promote healthier communities worldwide.