GLOBAL STATUS REPORT ON ALCOHOL & HEALTH | What Is India’s Position

GLOBAL STATUS REPORT ON ALCOHOL & HEALTH

(What Is India’s Position)

Alcohol has always been a part of many social, cultural events. According to people, no occasion can be complete without alcohol. Especially, teenagers can be mostly seen as being in addiction of it. It is a means of immense pleasure for people but nothing has left in this world without having any drawback. 

On one side, it is a source of pleasure but on the other hand, it is a reason for destruction as well. As they say, the excess of everything is dangerous, therefore, the excess of alcohol consumption is also dangerous.

Recently, WHO (World Health Organisation) has released a Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health, on 21st Sep. 2018  in which the data of alarming increase of alcohol consumption by various countries are provided.

Sadly, India is also a part of those countries. Therefore, this article will be exclusively dealing with India’s position on alcohol consumption and various other factors associated with it.

GENERAL INFORMATION OF THE REPORT-:

According to the report, in 2016, around 3 million people were killed by alcohol consumption, which means 1 death in every 20 persons. Among all the deaths, globally, three-fourths were of men. Of the death caused - 28 percent were due to injuries, such as traffic accidents, 21 percent were from digestive disorders, 19 percent from cardiovascular diseases, and the rest from infectious diseases, cancers, mental disorders, and other health conditions, etc.

Globally, 2.3 billion people consume alcohol, in which more than half population is in three nations – America, Europe & the Western Pacific Region.

But, apart from these countries, there were some countries also which shows a major decline in alcohol consumption namely- Russia, Moldova & Belarus.

INDIA’S POSITION-:

According to the report, India’s pure alcohol per capita consumption has been increased significantly. In 2005, it was 2.4 litres, in 2010, it was 4.3 litres, & in 2016, it was 5.7 litres, which means more than double in 2016 from 2005. This data may not seem very harmful or shocking but if we see on the global level then we will find that India represents a large portion of the population of the world and especially of South East Asia Region, which means a large portion of the population consumes alcohol, per capita, on such higher rates.

Among various types of alcohol beverages, spirits are consumed on the account of 92%,  & beer- 8% in India. Out of the total population of the country, 28% population belongs to male, aged- 15+ and 5% are female, aged-15+, among which 55% of male and 21% of female are drinkers.

HEALTH CONSEQUENCES-:

The consequences of alcohol consumption has to be faced by not only the consumer but also by his/ her family. Variety of diseases causes due to alcohol consumption, which ultimately led to untimely death. Apart from diseases, the report shows that death caused- 28% due to injuries, which can be road accidents, 21% due to digestive disorders, 19% from cardiovascular diseases, and the rest from infectious diseases, cancer etc. The report also shows that mortality rates are higher due to alcohol consumption as compared to other diseases like HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, diabetes etc.

Among men in 2016, an estimated 2.3 million deaths and 106.5 million DALYs (Disability Adjusted life year)were attributable to the consumption of alcohol, whereas, 0.7 million women died and they experienced 26.1 million DALYs attributable to alcohol consumption. 

DALY is a means of measurement of overall disease burden, which is expressed as the number of years lost due to ill- health, disability or early death.

POLICIES & INTERVENTIONS-:

India has adopted various policies and Govt. interventions to regulate alcohol consumption in the country. Some of these are stated below-:

1.  Legally required health warning labels on alcohol advertisements or containers.

2.  India also provides for National Monitoring System, which is “National Drug Treatment Monitoring System”.

3.  Legally binding regulations on alcohol advertising or product placement.

4.  Restrictions for on-off premise sales of alcohol beverages on the basis of hours, places, density, etc.

5.  Has put Excise taxes on beer/ wine/spirits.

SUGGESTIONS-:

Apart from the above policy measures or interventions, India & its society needs to adopt some more  measures-:

1.  Do not consider it as a taboo, especially in case of women. Rather, educate them on how much alcohol is safe and what can be the repercussions of excessive alcohol consumption.

2.  India should include more alcohol regulation policies, rather banning alcohol altogether, the regulation should state the limit of consumption and should also focus on issues related to adulteration of alcohol.

3.  Should train more physiotherapists who can properly guide addicts and also need to aware people of these physiotherapies and other medicals aids.

4.  Need to increase and improve rehabilitation centre with proper facilities as our country seriously lacks in this area.

CONCLUSION-:

This article has totally referred to the Global Status Report on Alcohol & Health which was released by the WHO. Although the report talked about almost every country, but here the main focus was on India. The rising alcohol consumption level in India has become an alarming situation, from where the country needs to get rid of, there are various possible suggestions have also given which are not exhaustive in nature and can include much more in this direction.