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September 23, 1:15 PM - 2:30 PM
ALCOHOL POLICY FOR DELIVERING A BETTER PRESENT AND SAFEGUARDING THE FUTURE
Why Delivering on the Global Alcohol Action Plan Is Critical for Meeting the SDGs
United Nations General Assembly 79 High-Level Side Event – on the margin of the Summit of the Future 2024
Event Co-Sponsors
- Brazil, Ministry of Health
- Ghana, Ministry of Health
- Latvia, Ministry of Health
- Lesotho, Ministry of Health
- Movendi International
- Movendi NY
- Slovenia, Ministry of Health
- UNICEF
- United Nations Development Program (UNDP)
- United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on NCDs
Event Partner
We are thankful for the technical collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO).
Date and time
- September 23, 2024
- 13.15 – 14.30
- Light, healthy lunch is available from 12.45.
Place
- Church Center of the United Nations, 777 United Nations Plaza, New York, USA (opposite the UN Headquarters)
Registration link
You can register here.
Please register for the event as soon as possible because seats are limited and interested in the event is high.
Background
This side event on the margins of the Summit of the Future and the UN General Assembly takes place at a critical moment: Time is running out to make significant progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and meet the global targets. This event also takes place one year before the landmark High-Level Meeting on NCDs.
Alcohol is a major obstacle to sustainable development. Alcohol harm negatively affects 14 of 17 SDGs. For instance, alcohol harm causes a loss of 2.6% of GDP on average per country; alcohol remains the number one leading risk factor for death and disease among 15- to 49-years old; alcohol harms children and youth and other vulnerable groups disproportionately; and population-level alcohol use is projected to increase until 2030 – according to the most recent World Health Organization Global Alcohol Status Report.
Alcohol harm poses a significant and growing burden on people and societies in many regions. In most countries, the NCD burden due to alcohol is increasing. Since 2006, healthy life years lost due to cancer caused by alcohol have increased by 11% worldwide
The burden of mortality and morbidity from alcohol consumption is highest in low-income countries (LICs) but these are also the countries that reported most frequently insufficient resources devoted to alcohol policy as the most important barrier to alcohol policy development since 2016.
At the same time, only a few notable exception of countries have made progress in responding to their alcohol burden by developing and implementing public health oriented alcohol policy solutions in the last decade. Most countries have made zero progress since 2010 regarding alcohol policy “best buys” implementation. Alcohol industry interference clearly increases as countries attempt to implement the “best buys”, as the WHO Global Alcohol Status Report shows.
Countries are off track to reach the Sustsianble Development Goals target of 10% per capita alcohol consumption reduction until 2030.
Member States of the World Health Organizations have recognized the lack of progress and identified alcohol as public health priority with urgent need to accelerate action. In 2022, Member States unanimously adopted the Global Alcohol Action Plan, with a renewed focus on the most cost-effective, high-impact, and scientifically proven alcohol policy solutions.
In all WHO regions, there are countries that are implementing proven alcohol policy solutions and their results are creating new momentum, showing the potential of alcohol policy for reaching health and development for all.
Objectives
This event aims to take stock of key challenges in developing and implementing evidence-based, high-impact, and ambitious alcohol policy solutions. How can those challenges be overcome?
The event will showcase best practices from countries and provide a platform for discussion and experience sharing.
The event will explore how countries, UN agencies, and civil society can come together to ensure full implementation of the WHO Global Alcohol Action Plan – in order to make substantial contributions to progress towards the SDGs and a better future for all.
The event will outline new pathways and the benefits of alcohol policy action for promoting health and development for all.
Audience
The target audience of this high-level side event during UNGA and on the margins of the SDGs Summit and the High-Level Meeting on UHC is member states, as well as leaders of civil society organizations, academia, and UN agencies and programs.
Program
Moderator: Dr Maristela Monteiro, former PAHO Special Advisor on Alcohol
High level segment
| OPENING | |
| Introduction by Moderator | The Global Alcohol Action Plan and the SDGs: Alcohol policy potential to achieve a better future for all |
| Dr Bernard Okoe-Boye | Minister of Health, Ghana |
| Dr Jana Feldmane | Director at the Public Health Department, Ministry of Health of Latvia |
| Ms Marina Pittella | General Coordinator of the Special Advisory for International Affairs of the Ministry of Health, Brazil |
| Dr Devorah Kestel | Director of Mental Health and Substance Use, World Health Organisation |
Deep dive segment
| Alcohol policy as catalyst for Sustainable Development | |
| Dr. Raoul Bermejo, Health Specialist UNICEF
Mr Roy Small, Policy Specialist UNDP
Dr. Nick Banatvala (remote participation), Head Secretariat of the United Nations Interagency Task Force on NCDs WHO |
Alcohol harm, alcohol policy and the health and rights of the world’s children
The investment case for addressing alcohol as obstacle to development
The role of the UN system in addressing alcohol harm |
| Ms Kristina Sperkova, International President, Movendi International
Ms Rebecca Perl, Principal Technical Advisor Policy Advocacy and Communication Vital Strategies |
Launching the new report about alcohol policy as catalyst for the SDGs and a better future for all
What polling reveals about people’s desire for alcohol policy change |
Interactive segment
| What are ambitious actions and opportunities to make alcohol policy progress? | |
| Conversation with perspectives from all co-sponsoring Member States, UN partners, and Civil Society including youth perspective | |
| Ms Inês Costa Louro Vice President, External Affairs, IFMSA |
Expert perspective youth |
| Mr Labram Musah Executive Director, VALD Ghana |
Expert local perspective |
Closing, by moderator
Moderator Dr Monteiro will wrap up and conclude the event.
Speaker bios
Bernard Okoe-Boye is a Ghanaian and a Medical Doctor by profession. He is also a politician and was a member of the Seventh Parliament of the Fourth Republic of Ghana representing the Ledzokuku Constituency in the Greater Accra Region on the ticket of the New Patriotic Party. He was once the board chairman of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, the nation’s largest medical facility. He was also the Chief Executive Officer of the National Health Insurance Authority (NHIA) mandated to run the affairs of Ghana’s pro-poor health insurance policy, the National Health Insurance Scheme (Ghana). On February 14, 2024, he was nominated for consideration by Parliament as Minister of Health.
Jana Feldmane is a Latvians and a Medical Doctor by profession. She serves currently as the Head of the Division of Environmental Health at the Ministry of Health in Riga, Latvia, where she is in charge of policy planing and development on control of communicable diseases, immunization, antimicrobial resistance, environmental health, and other public health issues. She has a long career of serving the Latvian people in the National Environmental Health Center, in the Agency of Health Statistics and Medical Technology, in the Agency of Public Health, and since 2008 in the ministry of health.
Marina Pittella is the Coordinator-General of the International Affairs Office at Ministério da Saúde. She has served as a diplomat with the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Itamaraty) since 2008. Over her 16-year career, she has held various important roles, including Deputy Head of the Mineral Resources and Infrastructure Division and the International Peace and Security Division. Her experience spans international negotiations and multilateral diplomacy, particularly in sectors related to security, resources, and peacebuilding. Marina has also served as an assistant at the United Nations Division from 2009 to 2012, further contributing to Brazil’s engagement with international organizations. With a focus on public service and international relations, she continues to represent Brazil in various capacities.
Dévora Kestel is a global expert in mental health policy, with over thirty years of international experience in Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America, implementing and advising governments on national policies related to mental health systems. She is a strong advocate for the rights of people with mental health issues. She obtained her Master’s in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK. She worked for 10 years developing and supervising community mental health services based in Trieste, Italy. In 2000 she joined the World Health Organization as a mental health officer, first in post-war Kosovo and then in Albania, where she also served as a WHO Representative. In 2007, she joined the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO/WHO), where she worked initially for the Caribbean countries, and then in Washington DC headquarters, providing technical cooperation in mental health to the Region of the Americas. In 2015 she became head of the Mental Health and Substance Use Unit at PAHO/WHO. Since 2019, Dévora Kestel has been WHO Director of Mental Health and Substance Use.
Raoul III Bermejo is a medical doctor with extensive experience on health policy and financing health systems research and programming for maternal and child health. He is part of the Health Programme Group at UNICEF NY Headquarters where he leads new programme areas on Childhood NCDs Child Injury Prevention and Disability Inclusion in the Health System. He has previously worked for a local government in the Philippines leading on reproductive maternal newborn child health and nutrition programs as well as overall health systems strengthening within the context of decentralization of the health sector. He first joined UNICEF more than 12 years ago in the Philippines managing health policy financing and systems strengthening portfolios. Raoul has a Doctor of Medicine degree from the University of the Philippines -Manila and a Master in Public Health from the Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp Belgium. Outside work he enjoys gardening farming cooking swimming diving and reading on history. He is also enthusiastic about ancient healing traditions and cultural and biodiversity conservation.
Roy Small, is Policy Specialist Health and NCDs, at the United Nations Development Programme. For more than a decade, Roy has contributed to United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) efforts to promote health and sustainable development worldwide. He has expertise in supporting countries to advance multisectoral responses to complex health challenges, such as non-communicable diseases (NCDs), universal health coverage (UHC), and COVID-19, including strategies for multisectoral planning, coordination, and innovative financing. This work is part of UNDP’s inter-agency collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control Secretariat, the UN Task Force on NCDs, the UNAIDS partnership, and the SDG 3 Global Action Plan. Before joining the UN, Roy provided educational services to children with disabilities. He holds a Juris Doctor degree from Fordham University School of Law and a Master’s in Global Public Health from New York University, where he also received his undergraduate degree.
Nick Banatvala, is the head of the Task Force Secretariat. Previously, he was Head of Global Affairs at the Department of Health in England where he led the development and implementation of the UK Government’s first-ever global health strategy. Before that, he headed up the UK Department for International Development’s work on global health partnership and scaling up health services. Prior to this, Nick led DFID’s health and education programming to Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Middle East. Nick has experience of the non-governmental sector, having worked with the UK aid agency Merlin on a number of humanitarian and development programmes. Nick trained in paediatrics and infectious diseases before doing public health and epidemiologic research in the East End of London and at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. Nick has held senior posts in UK public health, where his portfolios included cardiovascular disease, diabetes, breast and cervical cancer screening, and clinical governance.
Kristina Sperkova is the International President of Movendi International. She has a master degree in psychology from Comenius University in Slovakia. She has been active in the field of alcohol prevention within civil society for 20+ years starting in a peer program in her hometown community in Slovakia. Later on Kristina engaged in prevention work on European level and served as a Secretary-General of a European Youth Organization. She worked both with capacity building of youth organizations active in the prevention field in Europe and with youth and alcohol policy advocacy on EU level. From 2012 onwards, Kristina worked for a Swedish NGO, the IOGT-NTO movement, that conducts development aid work with partner NGOs in Southeast Asia, East Africa, and Balkan countries, in the field of official development assistance. She worked as a Programme manager, Strategic coordinator and subsequently as Junior Advisor with questions relating to alcohol as obstacle to development. Kristina has been in the International Board of Movendi International since 2006, first as International Vice President and since October 2014 as International President.
Rebecca Perl is a public health advocate who works at Vital Strategies in New York City, as Principal Technical Advisor. There she guides and oversees the organization’s work at the United Nations in New York and the World Health Organization in Geneva on public health issues, including the leading causes of heart disease, cancer and lung disease. Her expertise includes tobacco control and obesity prevention. She also worked under the Bloomberg Initiative to Reduce Tobacco Use and directed this work in Russia, Europe and Africa for World Lung Foundation. In this role, Rebecca advised governments and NGOs on how to develop mass education campaigns. Rebecca’s public health experience comes from her years as a science journalist. Most notably, she spent seven years covering tobacco as a health and science correspondent for National Public Radio in Washington, DC, winning the coveted Peabody Award for her investigative reporting. Rebecca also worked as a health and science reporter for the Washington Post and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Her work has also been featured on HBO and on “This American Life.” She taught writing and reporting at Columbia University and New York University as well. Rebecca holds an MS in Journalism from Columbia University.
Inês Costa Louro is a medical intern from Lisbon, Portugal currently serving as the Vice-President for External Affairs at the International Federation of Medical Students’ Associations (IFMSA). There, she represents medical students’ values globally. She is also one of the Portuguese Representatives at the EVID-ACTION Youth Network at the WHO Regional Office for Europe and a member of the Youth Group that provides consultancy in a peer-to-peer substance use prevention program of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. She is part of the first cohort of the United Nations Office on Youth Reference Group. She has a degree in Medicine from the University of Lisbon and has been actively involved in public health projects. Her advocacy work spans various crucial health issues, including mental health, sexual and reproductive health and rights, substance use prevention and environmental health.
Labram Musah Massawudu holds a Higher National Diploma in Marketing from the Accra Technical University, and an MBA in Project Management from the Wisconsin International University College. He is currently the Executive Director of Programs of the Vision for Alternative Development (VALD-Ghana), the leading organization advocating for stringent tobacco control and alcohol policy as well as road safety and climate change measures in Ghana. He doubles as the National Coordinator of the Ghana NCD Alliance.
Resources and further reading
Understanding alcohol as obstacle to development and alcohol policy as catalyst for the SDGs
Alcohol is a major obstacle to development and the alcohol policy best buys are powerful catalysts for achieving the SDGs.
Movendi International launched a comprehensive analysis first in 2015. Since then the report about alcohol as obstacle to achieving the SDGs has been updated three times already.
In 2024, Movendi International has released a revamped, refreshed, comprehensively updated report with completely new sections.
- 7 Ways How Alcohol Impedes the SDGs
- Biggest Threat to Health and Development
- 5 Cases of Alcohol as Cross-Cutting SDGs Obstacle
- Alcohol As Obstacle to Economic Development
- Alcohol As Obstacle to Environmental Development
- Alcohol As Obstacle to Social Development
- Big Alcohol and Underdevelopment
- Alcohol Policy for Development
- And more…
People Desire Alcohol Policy Action New Surveys Show
The RESET Alcohol Initiative recently completed a survey of more than 6,000 residents spanning five partner countries on people’s attitudes about alcohol harms and alcohol policy solutions.
The results are striking: People are gravely concerned about alcohol harm. And people desire alcohol policy change. They want their governments to take alcohol policy action and to hold the alcohol industry accountable for the harms alcohol is causing.
These five country findings are in line with results from other, especially high-income countries, where surveys also routinely show strong public support for governments to take alcohol policy action.
And in 2022, a Gallup poll had already shown strong and broad support for alcohol tax increases among the world’s adult population.
For updates from the RESET Alcohol Initiative, sign up to the RESET Newsletter, here.
Countries Fail to Utilize Alcohol Policy in United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Frameworks
Of the 135 countries that rolled out a UNSDCF during this period, 9 countries (7%) included alcohol measures as a strategic priority and/or as a metric. Specifically, 93% (126/135) did not include alcohol measures, 3% (4/135) integrated it solely in the results matrix, 2% (3/135) solely in the strategic priorities section, and 2% (2/135) in both sections.