WHO SEA RC76

The Seventy-sixth session of the WHO Regional Committee for South-East Asia is held in New Delhi, India, from October 30 to November 02, 2023.

During WHO SEA RC76, health ministers and high-level delegates of the 53 Member States of the WHO European Region, as well as representatives of partner organizations and civil society, including Movendi International, will gather in Tel Aviv, Israel, or connect virtually for the 72nd session of the WHO Regional Committee for Europe (RC72), to deliberate and decide on critical public health issues, including a new Alcohol Policy Framework.

Alcohol policy will be on the agenda of WHO SEA RC76, with a report by the Secretariat on the implementation of the regional strategy to reduce alcohol use and harm.

Our advocacy objectives

Movendi International members are deeply concerned about rising alcohol consumption, harm, and costs – driven by the predatory practices of the alcohol industry.

• Alcohol harm is a major burden in our societies and a serious obstacle to development. It is crucial that we direct attention to the dimensions of alcohol harm beyond health: for example loss of economic productivity and growth.
• Policy gaps remain across our region especially considering inadequate levels of alcohol taxation skyrocketing alcohol online sales and on-demand delivery and the lack of alcohol advertising bans.

Movendi International suggests the following immediate actions at national level:

1. Concerted efforts to mainstream alcohol harm and policy considerations into all relevant policy across the Sustainable Development Goals.
2. Accelerate action to raise alcohol taxes and reinvest the revenue into health promotion.
3. Advance the regional initiative to prevent under-age alcohol use and initiation and
4. Develop robust conflict of interest countermeasures to protect alcohol policy initiatives from alcohol industry interference.

In the context of the global level we encourage and support continued leadership
from SEARO countries. In this regard we propose two key actions:

• Ensure a progress report on the implementation of the WHO Global Alcohol Action Plan is being discussed at the WHO governing bodies in 2024 – meaning Member States should request is as agenda item; and
• To further build momentum for alcohol policy as global health priority we encourage Member States to support calls for a Global Ministerial Conference on Alcohol and for holding a High-Level Meeting on Alcohol Policy at the United Nations before 2030.

Our official statements

Movendi International, through its Official Relationship Status with the WHO, will address the WHO EURO RC72 through two statements.

Other advocacy objectives

Strengthening primary health care as a key element towards achieving universal health coverage

To foster a comprehensive and integrated approach to primary health care two key issues are critical for the way forward:

1. To reach universal health coverage through primary healthcare taxation of health harmful products is essential for instance alcohol and tobacco harm place a major burden on health systems. Evidence is clear about the triple-win effect of health promotion taxes such as reducing the overall health burden raising crucial resources and promoting healthy environments.
2. To facilitate a synergistic approach to universal health coverage the potential of the primary health care system to provide comprehensive care packages and to identify co-morbidities remains under-utilized in countries across South-East Asia. To identify cross-cutting health risk factors such as alcohol problems and to address co-morbidities in different health conditions is still an underdeveloped skill in the health workforce and capacity is lacking – also because avoidable healthcare burden and costs due to alcohol are extremely high still.

We call on WHO and countries in the region to optimize resource allocation and sound financing. To strengthen primary healthcare post-Covid-19 health taxes such as alcohol and tobacco taxes are essential to avoid preventable costs and to unlock much needed resources for investments in the healthcare system.

We call for a dedicated effort to address and use alcohol taxation to strengthen primary healthcare. It reduces alcohol consumption harm and costs – alleviating a heavy burden on primary healthcare. It helps raise domestic resources that can be reinvested into strengthening primary healthcare. And it helps promote equity and development for all especially the most vulnerable of our societies.

Already in 2010 the World Health Report said:

Raising taxes on alcohol to 40% of the retail price could have an even bigger
impact [than a 50% increase in tobacco taxation].

Estimates for 12 low-income countries show that consumption levels would
fall by more than 10% while tax revenues would more than triple to a level
amounting to 38% of total health spending in those countries.”

World Health Organization 2010

Annual report on monitoring progress on UHC and health-related SDGs

Promoting and protecting health is essential to human welfare and sustained economic and social development. Health for All is essential to achieve better quality of life economic prosperity and sustainable development.

The problem is that our health systems are strained to the brink by preventable health risk factors such as alcohol.

• Globally alcohol contributes to 20% of injuries in emergency department presentations.
• In some low- and middle-income countries 1 in 5 hospital beds are occupied due to alcohol harm.

Alcohol is a major and cross-cutting obstacle to universal health coverage and the SDGs. In our region alcohol use and harm are rising particularly among adolescents youth and women.

Our region is aggressively targeted by the alcohol industry driving up alcohol consumption for their own profits. The magnitude and severity of alcohol harm across the region is serious especially concerning NCDs HIV and TB violence and road traffic injuries.

Costs due to pervasive alcohol harm undermine the strength resilience and capacity of health systems to provide care prevent harm and promote health.

That’s why alcohol policy in general and alcohol taxation in particular are powerful tools to help reach health for all by increasing fiscal space and reducing avoidable healthcare burden and spending.

Alcohol taxation like other health promotion taxes holds massive potential for achieving Universal Health Coverage.

Alcohol taxation is a triple win measure:

1. It helps reduce and prevent alcohol harm and costs.
2. It helps promote equity and sustainable development; and
3. It helps raise domestic resources for investment in health systems and health promotion.

Country best practices on how to improve health system functioning through alcohol policy exist and should be an integral part of the UHC discussions going forward.

Movendi International is ready to step up our support for countries in our region to accelerate alcohol policy action in general and to raise alcohol taxes in particular to help achieve UHC and the SDGs for the people of South-East Asia.