In 2012 there was a reported 3.3 million people globally that died alcohol-related deaths. According to the World Health Organization, there are over 200 diseases, including some types of cancers and liver cirrhosis, that can be developed due to alcohol consumption, not counting the fact that consuming large amounts of alcohol can lead to alcohol-dependence. There is also sufficient evidence to support the claim that excessive and harmful use of alcohol makes people more prone to infectious diseases such as pneumonia and tuberculosis.
A revised global status report on the use of alcohol has been released this year and contained profiles for each of the 194 member states of the WHO. Based on this report, Europe is the leading consumer of alcohol among the WHO regions and it also has the highest rate of heavy episodic drinking. This means that the people in this country have the most distinct alcohol habits that are related to the development of adverse health effects. The Americas region comes as a close second to Europe in both of these categories, and also holds the first place for having the lowest rate of alcohol abstention.
There are countries, however, that are already strengthening and implementing programs that are designed to protect their people from the negative effects of alcohol. Such measures include increased taxation of alcohol products, regulating the availability of alcoholic beverages in the market, and raising the age limitation for legal alcohol consumption. The report also shows that communities need to come together in order to device more ways of that would help reduce the damaging effects of alcohol.
WHO Assistant Director General for Non-Communicable Diseases and Mental Health, Oleg Chestnov, said that, "More needs to be done to protect populations from the negative health consequences of alcohol consumption. The report clearly shows that there is no room for complacency when it comes to reducing the harmful use of alcohol."
