Ahead of next week's UN Summit on Non-communicable Diseases (NCDs) in New York, a group of international medical bodies* has issued a consensus statement calling on doctors to take the lead on tackling alcohol misuse both in their daily practice and by speaking out and demanding action from governments who have done little to address the enormous harms caused by excess alcohol.
According to the statement, despite there being over 76 million people with alcohol misuse problems and alcohol being the third leading risk factor in preventable and premature disease worldwide, there has been "a lamentable lack of any global remediable action".
"Evidence-based cost-effective interventions reduce harm from alcohol, but advocacy for an alcohol policy is not politically attractive. The conflict between government-driven health policy and commercial or social governmental influences impedes the progress of any national or international policy. There is, therefore, an urgent need to put pressure on governments to recognise, adopt, and scale up appropriate health policies", say the medical bodies in their statement published Online First in The Lancet.
The statement stresses that the considerable health harms caused by alcohol misuse demand that doctors take a lead and that they are in a unique position to do so: "It is every clinician's responsibility to address alcohol harm, both on a daily basis with individual patients and in the wider context of health harms and inequalities at the population level. The voice of doctors is valued and trusted within societies, and therefore we call on all doctors to show effective leadership by holding ministries of health accountable for their lack of action in the face of such robust evidence."
It concludes: "We ask governments to act urgently and to champion evidence-based initiatives for the implementation of effective alcohol strategies at all levels to improve the health of populations worldwide."
Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, Royal College of Physicians of London, London, UK.
Via Andrew McCraken, Communications Officer, Royal College of Physicians of London T) +44 (0) 203 075 1354 or +44 (0)7896 416 409 (out of hours mobile) E) andrew.mccracken@rcplondon.ac.uk
Notes to Editors:
The following are co-signatories to the consensus statement:
- Dr Cordelia Coltart, Clinical advisor to the Royal College of Physicians of London
- Mr Ian Anderson, President of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow
- Dr Benson Barh, President of the West African College of Physicians
- Dr Neil Dewhurst, President of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh
- Dr John Donohoe, President of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland
- Professor Andrej Dukat, President of the Slovakian Internal Medical Society
- Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, Immediate Past President of the Royal College of Physicians of London
- Dr Padma Gunaratne, President of the Ceylon College of Physicians
- Professor Virginia Hood, President of the American College of Physicians
- Professor David Kershenobich, President
- Professor John Kolbe, President of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians
- Professor Raymond Liang, President of the Hong Kong Academy of Medicine
- Professor A Madaree, President of the Colleges of Medicine of South Africa
- Professor Bongani Mayosi, President of the College of Physicians of South Africa
- Professor Kammant Phanthumchinda, President of the Royal College of Physicians of Thailand
- Dr Patrick Li, President of the Hong Kong College of Physicians
- Professor Sir Richard Thompson, President of the Royal College of Physicians of London
Journal
The Lancet