Movendi International Addresses UN Multi-Stakeholder Meeting on NCDs and Mental Health

Movendi International Addresses UN Multi-Stakeholder Meeting on NCDs and Mental Health

On September 25, 2025, Heads of States and Government will meet at the UN General Assembly to set a new vision for the prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and the promotion of mental health and wellbeing towards 2030 and beyond through a new, ambitious and achievable Political Declaration. 

It is already the fourth High-level Meeting of the UN General Assembly on the prevention and control of NCDs and the promotion of mental health and wellbeing (HLM4). And it is a historic opportunity to mobilise political leadership for, increase investments in, and generate commit to ambitious alcohol policy action to prevent NCDs and promote mental health.

In preparation of the High-Level Meeting itself, the President of the UN General Assembly convened an interactive multi-stakeholder hearing. It took place on May 2, 2025, with Movendi International and several Movendi members being present and delivering statements.

Movendi International got the honor of opening the interactive part of the second panel discussion under the topic of “Reshaping and strengthening health systems and all forms of financing to meet the needs of people living with and at risk of NCDs and mental health conditions”.

Maik Dünnbier, Director of Strategy and Advocacy at Movendi International delivered the statement. Watch on UN Web TV here. The Movendi International statement by Maik Dünnbier starts at 28:33 minutes.

Movendi International Delivered Statement

Thank you Mme Chair,

We all share a common vision: a world where every person can live a healthy, empowered life – free from preventable harm. At the heart of this vision lies a commitment to health equity, social justice, and the dignity of all people.

But this vision is under threat.

Alcohol is a major driver of the global NCD crisis. Alcohol causes seven types of cancer, increases the risk of cardiovascular disease, fuels mental ill-health, and impedes progress toward 15 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals. 

For example, alcohol-related cancers are rising globally. 7% of the global adult population suffer from alcohol use disorder. At the same time, countries’ uptake of the alcohol policy Best Buys has not kept pace with rising alcohol harm.

This crisis is not accidental. It is the result of deliberate practices by the alcohol industry. From targeting youth and women in alcohol marketing to derailing evidence-based alcohol policy, the industry’s commercial interests stand in direct conflict with our shared goals. This conflict of interest is fundamental – and we are documenting and exposing it daily.

Alcohol companies profit from minors consuming their products. They depend on heavy alcohol consumption for most of their profits. They harvest online data to target the most vulnerable with insidious marketing, especially young people and people seeking mental health help.

We need the 2025 Political Declaration on NCDs to be a turning point.

Movendi International calls on countries and the UN system to learn from the evidence and experience since the 2018 High-Level Meeting and to act with ambition rooted in science.

Considering the political declaration, Movendi International aligns with the NCD Alliance Call to Lead. We urge Member States to:

1. Replace the flawed term of “harmful use of alcohol” with accurate, evidence-based language on alcohol harm and policy;
2. Refrain from assigning any role to the alcohol industry in NCD prevention and control due to their inherent and well-documented conflict of interest;
3. Commit to the UN Health4Life Fund,
4. Fully implement the WHO SAFER technical package, with emphasis on the QUICK BUYS that a new WHO study shows yield immediate health gains; and
5. Fully leverage alcohol taxation for NCDs prevention, health system strengthening, and domestic resource mobilization because the potential is massive, under-used, and the future of financing for health.

These are powerful, proven solutions. They save lives, reduce costs, and promote justice. And if they are integrated in the 2025 Political Declaration on NCDs the high-level meeting will become the turning point that we need it to be on the path to a healthier, fairer world for all, where people’s health is protected from commercial interference and every person can thrive.

Thank you.

Understanding Alcohol Harm Within the NCDs and Mental Health Crisis

An overview of recent data from the 2024 WHO Global Alcohol Status Report provides concrete evidence of how alcohol harm fuels the NCDs and mental health crisis worldwide.

Alcohol consumption trends

• Total alcohol per capita consumption in the world population decreased slightly from 5.7 litres in 2010 to 5.5 litres in 2019 (relative reduction of 4.5%).
• The COVID-19 pandemic had a significant impact on global alcohol consumption, with an estimated 10% relative reduction from 2019 to 2020 but with different, and sometimes opposite, impacts in different countries and population groups. 
• In 2019, 56% of the world’s population aged 15+ abstained from consuming alcohol – the numbers of alcohol consumers and abstainers in the world are relatively stable over time.

Health harm due to alcohol

• Worldwide, 2.6 million deaths were due to alcohol in 2019, representing 4.7% of all deaths in that year. 
• The alcohol-attributable disease burden is heaviest among males: 2 million alcohol-attributable deaths and 6.9% of all DALYs among males and 0.6 million deaths and 2.0% of all DALYs among females in 2019. 
• The WHO African and European regions face the highest levels of alcohol-attributable deaths per 100,000 persons.
• Globally, at least 400 million people, or 7% of the world’s population aged 15 years and older, live with alcohol use disorders.
  • An estimated 209 million (3.7% of the adult world population) live with alcohol dependence, with substantial differences in the numbers of people affected in different WHO regions. 

Alcohol policy trends

• Most countries reported no progress on the “best buys” in alcohol policy since 2010, signaling the urgent need for action. 
• More than wealthier nations, lower-income countries frequently reported insufficient resources devoted to alcohol policy, 
• Member States continued to report interference from the alcohol industry in alcohol policy development.
  • In 2019, two out of every five people lived in a country that reported such interference over the past three years.

The need for action according to WHO

The current trends indicate that the global target set for alcohol consumption will not be met by 2030, and achievement of this target will require political commitment, strong advocacy and resource mobilization for the rigorous implementation of the Global alcohol action plan 2022–2030, with a focus on the high-impact policy measures included in the SAFER package.

Achievement of SDG health target 3.5 requires active engagement and empowerment of civil society organizations, professional associations and people with lived experience of alcohol use disorders and other health conditions due to alcohol use. 

New GBD Data Reveals Alcohol Remains Top Risk Factor For Global Disease Burden

New Study Reveals High and Rising Global Burden of Alcohol Use Disorder, Alcohol-Related Liver Disease, and Liver Cancer Caused by Alcohol

From 2000 to 2021, around one-fourth of countries and territories exhibited an uptrend in the prevalence rate of alcohol-related liver disease (ALD). The study also revealed a noteworthy rise in ALD and alcohol-attributable primary liver cancer burden both from the past two decades and during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the COVID-19 pandemic, females exhibited a higher increase in prevalence, incidence, and mortality from ALD compared to males, in contrast to prior to the pandemic.

Source Website: Movendi International Advocacy Priorities for HLM4 on NCDs