News & advocacy
The Philippines' Action for Economic Reforms, ImagineLaw and the Policy Center join APAPA
March 2024
Three organizations from the Philippines, Action for Economic Reforms, ImagineLaw and the Policy Center, joined APAPA in 2024. This is the first time that organizations from the Philippines joined the Asia Pacific Alcohol Policy Alliance with the commitment to support the implementation of the WHO Global Alcohol Action Plan.
Action for Economic Reforms (AER) promotes excise taxation and regulation of alcohol—and tobacco-related products. ImagineLaw develops and advocates for evidence-based and people-centered public health policies. The Center for Policy Studies and Advocacy on Sustainable Development (The Policy Center) reduces alcohol harm through policy advocacy related to the nexus of alcohol use and road safety.
AER, ImagineLaw, and The Policy Center join ten APAPA organizational members from Australia, the Cook Islands, Hong Kong, Nepal, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam who expressed their renewed commitment as members of APAPA to promote evidence-based alcohol policies free from commercial interests in 2020.
APAPA welcomes AER, ImagineLaw and the Policy Center and looks forward to working together towards evidence-based alcohol policy in the Philippines.
GLobal Alcohol policy conference 2023 in cape town
26 October 2023
The 7th Global Alcohol Policy Conference was held from 24 to 26 October 2023 in Cape Town, South Africa. The conference focused on “Investing in people before profits: building momentum towards the Framework Convention on Alcohol Control”.
At the end of the 7th biennial global alcohol policy conference (GAPC) which was hosted by the Global Alcohol Policy Alliance (GAPA), the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC), the Southern African Alcohol Policy Alliance (SAAPA), and the Department of Social Development (DSD) held in Cape Town from 24 to 26 October, delegates endorsed the following declaration:
"We, the 521 participants from 55 countries gathered at the 7th Global Alcohol Policy Conference in Cape Town, South Africa from October 24-26, 2023
Recognizing alcohol’s significant role in the global burden of disease and as a major barrier to achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals,
Call on our national governments to recognize the alcohol industry’s conflict of interest with effective alcohol policies and establish clear rules separating the industry from engagement with policy development.
Call on WHO Member States to direct the WHO Director-General and other intergovernmental organisations to:
study the necessity and feasibility of a legally binding instrument to strengthen the public health response to alcohol consumption and related harm, through consultation with nation states and civil society, and •
report the findings through the Executive Board to the World Health Assembly."
ASEAN Framework for action on alcohol control
In December 2022, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) released the ASEAN Framework for Action on Alcohol Control. The Framework prioritizes six policy strategies:
Raise public awareness and advocacy for political commitments
Reduce alcohol supply and regulate access to alcohol by young people
Reduce demand and regulate pro-drinking environment
Implement early interventions, provide treatment and management for alcohol use disorders and dependence, and reduce acute health harm and social problems from heavy episodic consumption
Initiate community interventions
Strengthen national capacity and systems and coordinating mechanisms
APAPA welcomes this policy development in the ASEAN region. APAPA looks forward to working with the ASEAN Secretariat in developing evidence-based alcohol control policies in the region.
Call to who to stop engaging with alcohol companies
23 May 2023
The Asia Pacific Alcohol Policy Alliance joined other community organisations and public health leaders from 60 countries and 6 continents to call on the World Health Organization to stop its closed-door meetings with alcohol lobbyists!
Closed-door meetings allow companies that profit from alcoholic products to have unprecedented access to leaders who are responsible for advancing global health.
Alcohol companies and their lobbyists should not have a seat at the table where policy and programs to progress community health, well-being and safety are being developed, assessed or evaluated.
Alcohol kills 3 million people a year globally, about 5 per cent of all deaths. Among young adults aged 20 to 39 years, one in seven deaths is a result of alcohol. Alcohol is the greatest risk factor for disease burden among people aged 25 to 49 years.
In the Asia Pacific (Southeast Asia, East Asia and Oceania), alcohol use led to 730,000 deaths in 2019 alone, about 4.7% of deaths in the region (IHME, 2023). About 9.4 % of deaths among young adults aged 15 to 49 years in the Asia Pacific are related to alcohol.
Every effort should be made to prevent this harm.
#WHA76
Global Alcohol Action Plan: Proposed Actions for Civil Society Organizations
The Global Alcohol Action Plan has laid out proposals for civil society organizations to implement the WHO Global Strategy to Reduce the Harmful Use of Alcohol. See the slide deck below for the list of proposed actions from the Global Alcohol Action Plan.
APAPA submissions to the WHO Consultation on the Global Alcohol Action Plan
The Asia Pacific Alcohol Policy Alliance contributed its views and recommendations for the WHO Consultation on the Global Alcohol Action Plan from 2020 to 2021. See APAPA's recommendations on the working document and the first draft of the Global Alcohol Action Plan below.
Follow us on X (formerly Twitter) @AsiaPacAPA and on LinkedIn (Asia Pacific Alcohol Policy Alliance)!
Our posts are focused on the following:
alcohol industry monitoring in the region
alcohol policy developments in the region
news and updates from member organizations
news and updates from the Global Alcohol Policy Alliance
calls for advocacy on specific issues in the region
Tag @AsiaPacAPA for relevant tweets!
Tag the Asia Pacific Alcohol Policy Alliance on relevant LinkedIn posts!