Innovative portals on alcohol and health in four countries

Recent highlights

• June 2012

  WHO commences development of guidelines on substance use in pregnancy.

  Consumption of tobacco, alcohol, illicit drugs and other psychoactive substances during pregnancy can lead to miscarriage, impair the growth and development of the fetus and lead to life long problems in affected infants. The WHO guidelines will seek to prevent adverse health consequences of alcohol, tobacco, alcohol and other psychoactive substance use in pregnancy by assisting the identification and management of substance use in and around pregnancy. The guidelines are scheduled for completion in early 2014.

• March 2012

  Responding to calls for guidance on improving the interaction between health and criminal justice system for drug related crime

  In response to a requests to develop further guidance on this issue, WHO, in collaboration with UNODC, is collecting examples of humane and effective collaboration between the criminal justice system and the health care system to facilitate effective drug treatment for people with drug use disorders who come before the criminal justice system. This document will supplement existing publications including a UNODC discussion paper published in 2010 entitled “From coercion to cohesion: Treating drug dependence through health care, not punishment”, the WHO/UNODC discussion paper on the Principles of Drug Dependence Treatment, and the joint UN agency statement on compulsory drug detention and rehabilitation centers. Please contact us at MSB@who.int if you would like to suggest an example to be included in the manual.

  • UNODC publication "From coercion to cohesion"
  • Joint WHO and UNODC publication "Principles of drug dependence treatment"
  • Link to UN statement on compulsory drug detention and rehabilitation centres
• 15 February 2012

  Global Alcohol Policy Conference 2012

  The Global Alcohol Policy Conference was held between 13-15 February 2012 at the Impact Conference Centre in Nonthaburi, Thailand. The conference was organized by the Thai Ministry of Public Health, with WHO, the Global Alcohol Policy Alliance and the Thai Health Promotion Foundation as co-hosts. The conference was attended by some 1120 participants from 59 countries. A broad range of stakeholders were present; government representatives, parliamentarians, NGOs, researchers, activists and representatives from the media.

  • Conference declaration
• Feb 2012

  ICD-11 working group on substance abuse and addictive behaviours update

  As part of the process of developing ICD-11, the substance abuse working group met on the 27-29 February 2012 in Geneva. The draft chapter on substance use and addictive behaviours is scheduled for release later this year, in the ICD-11 beta-version. The final ICD-11 version is scheduled for publication in 2015. Link:

  • Web page for the ICD 11 revision
• 19 April 2011

  WHO Participation in the 54th Session of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs

  The fifty-fourth session of the United Nations Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) was held in Vienna 21-25 March 2011. A number of resolutions were discussed and adopted on issues regarding drugs and crime. The WHO actively participated in this CND annual session and its related events and discussions.

• 11 March 2011

  UN, Pakistan join forces to protect health of people with drug dependence

  11 March, 2011 | Islamabad - To reduce the health and social impacts of drug dependence in Pakistan, the United Nations and Pakistani authorities have joined forces to ensure drug users have access to appropriate treatment and care.

• 11 February 2011

  Action needed to reduce health impact of harmful alcohol use

  Wider implementation of policies is needed to save lives and reduce the health impact of harmful alcohol drinking, says a new report launched today by WHO. Harmful use of alcohol results in the death of 2.5 million people annually, causes illness and injury to many more, and increasingly affects younger generations and drinkers in developing countries.

• 2 February 2011

  First WHO global counterparts meeting on alcohol

  In 2010 the World Health Assembly endorsed the Global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol. A global network of WHO national counterparts is established to ensure effective collaboration and consultations with Member States on implementing the global strategy. The WHO Secretariat is hosting the first meeting of this global network in Geneva from 8 to 11 February. The aim of the meeting is to discuss and elaborate implementation mechanisms and plans for the strategy.

• 13 December 2010

  ATLAS 2010: First global report on substance use disorders launched

  To better prevent and treat alcohol and illicit drug use disorders, the World Health Organization has launched the first global report on resources currently in use to respond to these health concerns. The Atlas on substance abuse: Resources for the prevention and treatment of substance use disorders has collected information from 147 countries, representing 88% of the world's population. It has a particular focus on low- and middle-income countries.