Thailand: WHO Country Mission Praises Alcohol Laws
The World Health Organization’s Country Mission praises Thailand for its evidence-based alcohol policy model.
The National Alcohol Policy Committee and an international alcohol control assessment team praised Thailand for their alcohol control measures. They said the country is an example for the region. But further improvements can, should and will be made.
Thailand’s success in alcohol control came into focus in a meeting between high-ranking officials responsible for the country’s alcohol control model and the international alcohol control assessment team, comprising representatives of the Thai government, the World Health Organization (WHO), and the United Nations. The team, formed after the Thai government launched a joint assessment mission to review alcohol control and strategies has performed field work in Songkhla, Chiang Mai and Bangkok and presented policy-level information to the government.
Thailand’s outstanding success in controlling alcohol consumption in the country was jointly announced by the Deputy Minister of Public Health, Sathit Pitutecha, and Prof. Dr. Sally Casswell, the head of the international alcohol control assessment team.
The Thai government has already implemented several recommendations of the global assessment team. The government hopes to do more in the following areas:
- Increasing the age limit for the purchase of alcohol,
- Decreasing the number of alcohol selling points,
- Prohibiting all forms of alcohol advertising particularly on digital media, and
- Focusing more on encouraging participation in alcohol prevention and control by local communities.
Teera Watcharapranee, fifth from the left, with other participants of the WHO Country Mission
Teera Watcharapranee, adjunct member of the International Board of Movendi International and manager of the Stop Drink Network – a member organization of Movendi – was part of the country mission. Stop Drink Network, which consists of community groups all across Thailand, will play a key role in the implementation of community-led alcohol prevention and control initiatives.
Alcohol harm and policy in Thailand
© WHO Global Alcohol Status Report 2018
In Thailand, alcohol consumption is slowly increasing. In the region of the world that is seeing the biggest increases of alcohol use due to aggressive global alcohol corporations entering countries in South-East Asia in the race to convert alcohol abstainers to consumers, Thailand is still sticking out because of its WHO-recommended alcohol laws – with lower per capita alcohol use and slower increases of alcohol consumption.
But this is not to say that the country was not affected by a heavy alcohol burden.
- It still ranks among the top for years of life lost due to alcohol.
- Alcohol-related cancer kills more than 5,500 people.
- Alcohol-related road traffic injuries kill almost 7,000 people.
- Liver cirrhosis kills more than 10,000 people in Thailand.
- Per capita alcohol consumption among users is more than 20 liters, for males it is more than 26 liters.
- More than half of young Thai males between the ages of 15 to 19 years are engaging in binge alcohol consumption.
10 years after the adoption of the written national alcohol policy in 2010, Thailand’s alcohol policy model consists of the WHO alcohol policy best buy solutions:
- The alcohol tax is earmarked to be reinvested in alcohol prevention and control and health promotion activities;
- The legal age limit and other alcohol availability regulations are better than in many other countries in the region and around the world;
- And alcohol marketing is also comprehensively regulated.
But improvements can and will be made to help reach Thailand’s 10% alcohol consumption reduction target.
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For further reading from the blog portal:
9th Anniversary Of Thai Alcohol Control Act
