Alcohol Alert: One more step towards reaching Millenium Developments Goals WHO conference gives momentum to tackling non-communicable diseases

The First Global Ministerial Conference on Healthy Lifestyles and Non-Communicable Disease (NCDs) Control was held in Moscow in the end of April. On this global platform India and the world community achieved a big success for the future fight against NCDs. It is thanks to the strong efforts of the Indian delegation that from now on Mental Disorders are included in the list of NCDs[1]<https://provwww7.sobernet.nu/owa/?ae=Item&a=Open&t=IPM.Note&s=Draft&id=RgAAAADuKRoS73vKSrvCl7ebcL8BBwBRqzG23%2bX2R5poq%2fx6%2fgWZAAAEKVAWAAA8Dr327516RZu6VoUDex2nAO4ip1K1AAAJ#_ftn1>.

“The members of IOGT International and surely millions of affected people and their families all over the world congratulate the WHO for this resolution and express our special thanks to the stern efforts of the Indian delegation. NCDs are a major threat to global health and societal development, killing three out of five humans in the world,” says Mr. Sven-Olov Carlsson, President of IOGT International. “We need as comprehensive a strategy as possible to tackle this problem and the Indian efforts truly contributed to this.”

WHO Director-General Dr Margaret Chan termed the rise of chronic non-communicable diseases “an impending disaster.” The Principle NCDs are cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancers and chronic respiratory diseases which together currently cause more than 60% of global deaths, 80% of which hit developing societies.

“Including mental health in strategies to reduce and prevent the tremendous harm of NCDs is important for holistic approaches to this complex issue,” says Mr. Sven-Olov Carlsson, President of IOGT International and continues:

“We will win the fight against NCDs and foster societal development if we address the broader social drivers of NCDs. A leading risk factor, and more harmful than tobacco, is alcohol. It is ranking 3rd highest globally as health hazard, playing its part in many cancers, in liver diseases, cardiovascular diseases and mental health disorders. People with alcohol problems are at increased risk to develop mental disorders and vice versa. The final Moscow declaration backed by 94 WHO member states is therefore yet another step into the right direction.”