The World Health Organization (WHO) warns that the Western Pacific region is expected to miss the United Nations Agenda 2030 goal to reduce early deaths from noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) and their major risk factors.
The Western Pacific region, one of six WHO regions, includes 37 countries and territories, covering over a quarter of the world’s population. From Mongolia to the Pacific islands, it features diverse nations like China, Japan, Australia, Vietnam, and Niue, with varying health system capacities and demographic challenges.
Despite some country efforts, the region’s struggle to reduce alcohol and tobacco consumption has significantly contributed to the increase in cases of NCDs such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes. These diseases are driven by health harming products.
They are now responsible for over 80% of deaths among the region’s 1.9 billion people.
The U.N. goal, established as a part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), aims to reduce premature deaths from NCDs by one-third by 2030. However, several Western Pacific countries such as Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and the Solomon Islands have seen increases in mortality rates from diseases driven by health harming products. Even though the region has cut premature mortality by over 25%, WHO officials highlight that the slow decline in alcohol and tobacco consumption has made it unlikely that the SDGs target will be met, according to Reuters reporting.
Alcohol’s Role in the Global Disease Burden
The Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study, which is one of the largest global efforts to quantify health harm from risk factors such as alcohol, continuously highlights the negative impacts of alcohol. The latest 2021 data from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IMHE) shows that alcohol remains a leading global health risk factor.
Particularly for the young population, alcohol is a major risk factor for early death and disease. For example, alcohol is the number one risk factor for disease burden among those aged 15 to 49.
In several countries of the Western Pacific region, alcohol harm has escalated, for example in Vietnam with a 360% increase in the health burden related to alcohol since 1990.
Cancers caused by alcohol are also on the rise globally. Vietnam for instance is experiencing a 117% increase since 2006. Similar patterns can be seen in countries across the region.
Action on Alcohol Policy is Urgently Needed
Countries like Australia and New Zealand have made strides by implementing best-practice alcohol policies, with taxes making up at least 75% of the retail price of alcohol. Vietnam is another example: in 2019 the country passed an alcohol law consisting of some of the alcohol policy best buys.
However, other countries in the Western Pacific region have been slow to adopt similar preventive measures. WHO experts have therefore urged these countries to improve policies on alcohol availability, implement higher alcohol taxes, and regulate alcohol marketing more effectively to prevent and reduce alcohol harm.
Without significant action to promote proven alcohol policies, such as alcohol taxation, banning alcohol advertising, and limiting alcohol availability, the Western Pacific – and other regions worldwide – risks falling short of achieving key health goals. The increasing burden of cancer, cardiovascular disease, and other NCDs is therefore a clear sign of the need for immediate collective actions to lower alcohol and tobacco consumption in the world and to promote health and sustainable development for all by doing so.