17 November 2025

The Asia Pacific Alcohol Policy Alliance (APAPA) welcomes the WHO’s regional implementation plan to accelerate the Global Alcohol Action Plan 2022–2030 in the Western Pacific. Alcohol-related harm remains a pressing public health and development issue, disproportionately affecting youth, women, and marginalized communities. The plan’s alignment with the SAFER technical package and its emphasis on evidence-based interventions are both timely and essential.

We strongly support prioritizing high-impact policies—such as increasing alcohol taxes, restricting availability and marketing, enforcing drink-driving laws, and integrating screening and treatment into primary health care. These measures have been proven to reduce consumption and harm, and member states must implement them comprehensively to achieve the targeted 20% reduction in per capita alcohol consumption by 2030.

Civil society plays a vital role in this effort. The plan rightly recognizes the importance of community engagement, advocacy, and protection from industry interference. Civil society organizations are instrumental in raising awareness, monitoring policy implementation, and holding governments accountable. Their involvement ensures that alcohol control policies are equitable, culturally relevant, and rooted in public health priorities.

We call on Member States in the Western Pacific region to fully embrace the Implementation Road Map and Acceleration Projects, and to empower civil society as key partners in this journey. With collective action, strong governance, and unwavering commitment to SAFER principles, the Western Pacific Region can make meaningful progress toward reducing alcohol-related harm and achieving healthier, more resilient communities.

We welcome the alignment of the implementation roadmap with the SAFER Plus Policies laid out in the Joint APAPA-SEAAPA Regional Statement. We, at the Asia Pacific Alcohol Policy Alliance, commit to collaborating with the WHO, member states, and civil society organizations in supporting the implementation of the roadmap and acceleration projects.   

20 October 2025

Following the recently concluded APAPA-SEAAPA Regional Meeting, one of the most significant fruits of their labor is a Joint Regional Statement on Reducing and Preventing Alcohol Harms in the Asia Pacific and Southeast Asia Regions. The joint statement expresses the alliances' support for the WHO's SAFER Initiative. It further lays out the alliances' call for policy priorities, decisive action from governments, regional bodies, the WHO, and international organizations to strengthen evidence-based alcohol control policies to protect public health.

With the ongoing Regional Committee Meeting of the World Health Organization West Pacific Region, which has put alcohol control on its agenda, the APAPA and SEAAPA stand united in their mission to significantly reduce and prevent alcohol-attributable morbidity and mortality in the Asia Pacific and Southeast Asia regions, thereby contributing to the achievement of SDG 3.5 and the Global Alcohol Action Plan. We urge governments and regional bodies to reduce alcohol consumption and prevent alcohol harms by enacting and implementing national policies and legislation following the recommended interventions under the WHO SAFER Initiative and SAFER Plus (SAFER+) interventions, as a critical development and public health priority. Civil society organizations in the region are committed to playing an active, independent, and constructive role as advocates, monitors, and partners in achieving a future where our communities and our children are protected from the impacts of alcohol harm.

Read the full statement here.

Signatories to the Regional Statement include the following organizations and advocates: 

- Asia Pacific Alcohol Policy Alliance Secretariat

• Gianna Gayle Amul, PhD, Secretary

• Atty. Ma-Anne Rosales-Sto. Domingo, Legal Advisor

• Lloyd Christiann Esteban, Knowledge Manager

- Southeast Asia Alcohol Policy Alliance Secretariat

• Professor Sawitri Assanangkornchai, Chair (Thailand)

• Professor Wit Wichaidit, Secretary (Thailand)

• Chanyanoot Chunual, Project Coordinator (Thailand)

- Voluntary Health Association of India (India)

- The Concerned for Working Children (India)

- Association for Promoting Social Action (India)

- ADIC Sri Lanka (Alcohol and Drug Information Centre)

- Healthy Lanka Alliance for Development (Sri Lanka) - Secretariat of the Sri Lankan Alcohol Policy Alliance

- Child Workers in Nepal Concerned Center (CWIN-Nepal) - Secretariat of the Nepal Alcohol Policy Alliance

- Stop Drink Network (Thailand)

- Centre for Alcohol Studies (Thailand)

- Social Synergy Network (Thailand)

- ImagineLaw, Inc. (Philippines)

- Action For Economic Reforms (AER) (Philippines)

- YAY! I’m Sober (Philippines)

- Cook Islands Road Safety Council (Cook Islands)

- Centre for Economics and Community Development (ECCO) (Vietnam)

- Alcohol HealthWatch Trust (New Zealand)

- Cancer Society of New Zealand (New Zealand)

- Hong Kong Alliance for Advocacy Against Alcohol (Hong Kong, China)

- Health Coalition Aotearoa (New Zealand)

- Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (Australia)

• Associate Professor Dr Andy Towers, Massey University (New Zealand)

• Mike Tuala (New Zealand)

26 June 2025

The Asia Pacific Alcohol Policy Alliance is a virtual network of 14 organizations and various individuals committed to the development of effective alcohol policy in the Asia Pacific region. 

Recent research from the Asia Pacific has shown us a sobering truth: the alcohol industry is an active, strategic power working to weaken, delay, and derail effective alcohol policies. They fund front groups, distort science, and infiltrate policy spaces - all to protect their profits at the expense of communities. 

Even without funding, the Asia Pacific Alcohol Policy Alliance is monitoring the alcohol industry's activities from low to high-income economies in the region. Because of the alcohol industry's power, we see watered-down regulations, stalled reforms, and governments forced to negotiate public health with corporate giants. We see this in the Philippines, in Cambodia, in Thailand, in New Zealand and in Australia. This is unacceptable. 

We must draw a clear line. The alcohol industry cannot be both a cause of harm and a partner in health. We need fire walls - strong, enforceable safeguards that keep policy-making independent, transparent and accountable. This is why the Asia Pacific Alcohol Policy Alliance calls for stronger support for governments to implement the Global Alcohol Action Plan, especially the SAFER policy package. 

The Alliance calls for an international, legally binding and evidence-based framework for alcohol control to protect alcohol policies from the alcohol industry. This is not just about alcohol. It is about choosing people over profit. Our policies must serve the public good, not corporate greed.

The Asia Pacific Alcohol Policy Alliance reached out to the governments of Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines to call for a stronger Political Declaration on NCDs and Mental Health. 

The Asia Pacific Alcohol Policy Alliance raised the following concerns regarding the second revision of the Political Declaration:

• weak ambition across several critical areas, risking the commitments needed to meet SDG target 3.4 and SDG target 3.5. 

• The removal of commercial determinants of health from para 42

• Weakening of the comprehensive legislation and regulation required to reduce the risk factors of tobacco and alcohol use, and unhealthy diets. 

• falls significantly short on the need for a concise, action-oriented Declaration.  

In particular, the Asia Pacific Alcohol Policy Alliance urged Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines to:

1. Support and Retain Global NCD Targets with explicit reference to the WHO Global Monitoring Framework on NCDs to ensure global alignment and accountability.

2. Strengthen Language on Fiscal Measures by reinstating and reinforcing language from Rev.1 to commit to: “Implement or increase taxation on tobacco, alcohol, and sugar-sweetened beverages, as recommended by the World Health Organization to support health objectives which also aligns with the Seville Commitment’s reference to fiscal policies as a key tool for domestic resource mobilization.

3. Reinstate Evidence-Based NCD Prevention Policies and Protect Policymaking from Conflicts of Interest to maintain robust commitments to the cost-effective ‘best buy’ policies and measures for tobacco control, alcohol control and unhealthy diets. 

4. Protect policymaking from vested interests by embedding safeguards to prevent conflicts of interest and ensuring the engagement of only relevant private sector actors.

01 August 2025, apalcoholpolicyalliance@gmail.com 

June 2025

The APAPA Secretariat is concerned about the alcohol industry-supported activities of the Philippine Standards Coalition. The Philippine Standards Coalition (PSC), backed by the Asia Pacific International Spirits and Wines Alliance (APISWA) and the Alcoholic Beverage Alliance of the Philippines (ABAPI), serves as a concerning example of how the alcohol industry seeks to influence public health policy under the guise of corporate responsibility. From a public health standpoint, this coalition exemplifies the conflict of interest that arises when commercial actors are allowed to either avoid or influence regulatory frameworks intended to reduce alcohol-related harm.

The alcohol industry’s promotion of self-regulation is a well-documented strategy to delay or weaken effective public health interventions. While the PSC claims to support responsible marketing and sales practices to ‘reduce harmful alcohol use’, these voluntary measures lack transparency, independent oversight, and enforceability. Given that any level of alcohol consumption is associated with health risks, such pledges serve primarily to protect industry interests rather than public health.

Research has consistently shown that self-regulation is ineffective. Research has found that industry voluntary codes and pledges fail to prevent marketing that targets youth or misrepresents the risks of alcohol consumption. Moreover, self-regulation enables the industry to maintain harmful marketing practices while portraying an image as “socially responsible” corporate actors. 

This dynamic reflects the broader issue of commercial determinants of health—how corporate practices and interests shape environments and behaviors that undermine health. The alcohol industry’s involvement in public health initiatives is a textbook example of this phenomenon. Allowing vested interests to influence alcohol policy undermines the development of evidence-based public health regulations. 

The Asia Pacific Alcohol Policy Alliance, along with the Global Alcohol Policy Alliance and the World Health Organization (WHO), has been unequivocal in its stance: alcohol policy must be free from industry influence. This position is reflected in the WHO Global Alcohol Action Plan 2022–2030 and the WHO SAFER Initiative. APAPA echoes the call for comprehensive, government-led statutory regulations that restrict alcohol advertising, promotion and sponsorship. 

To effectively reduce alcohol consumption and its associated harms in the Philippines, the Philippine government, through the Department of Health and key regulatory agencies, must enact and enforce comprehensive, legally-binding regulations, including:

• Comprehensive bans on alcohol advertising, sponsorship, and promotion across all media platforms, including digital and social media, with penalties for non-compliance.

• Strict enforcement of minimum legal drinking age laws, with penalties for non-compliance.

• Strengthening of regulatory agencies’ capacity for monitoring, surveillance and evaluation of alcohol marketing and sales practices.

• Restrictions on alcohol outlet density and hours of sale, particularly in vulnerable communities (for example, within the vicinity of educational, sports and youth-oriented facilities)

Such policies will not only support but also strengthen the current Philippines’ alcohol taxation policy in preventing and reducing alcohol harms. Public health policy must be grounded in scientific evidence and guided by the principle of protecting public health, not shaped by those who profit from alcohol consumption.

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APAPA Secretariat, apalcoholpolicyalliance@gmail.com 

June 2025

The APAPA Secretariat has reviewed the white paper on Cambodia's alcohol policy landscape and finds its policy recommendations problematic from a public health perspective. 

From a public health perspective, the white paper's reliance on voluntary measures and self-regulation by the alcohol industry is problematic, as these approaches have historically been ineffective in reducing harmful drinking behaviors. Using the commercial determinants of health framework, the white paper's recommendations appear to be influenced heavily by economic interests rather than public health priorities. The involvement of the Asia Pacific International Wine and Spirits Association (APISWA) in supporting the research for the white paper raises concerns about potential conflicts of interest. The emphasis on industry self-regulation and voluntary measures suggests a prioritization of commercial interests over stringent public health regulations. This approach undermines the development of robust and evidence-based policies needed to protect public health.

The WHO Global Alcohol Action Plan 2022-2030 aims to reduce harmful alcohol use by 20% by 2030. It emphasizes the need for strong regulatory measures, including restrictions on alcohol availability, marketing, and pricing, as well as the enforcement of blood alcohol content (BAC) limits. The Global Alcohol Action Plan advocates for a whole-of-society approach, involving government, civil society, and the private sector. However, the white paper's reliance on voluntary industry measures contradicts the WHO's emphasis on regulatory approaches. The Global Alcohol Action Plan has a set of proposed measures for the alcohol industry to address risks of conflict of interest, particularly:

(1) to refrain from funding public health and policy-related activities and research to prevent any potential bias in agenda-setting emerging from the conflict of interest, and; 

(2) to cease the sponsorship of scientific research on the public health dimensions of alcohol consumption and alcohol policies and its use for marketing or lobbying purposes.

Moreover, the white paper suggests leveraging alcohol producers and retailers to support policy implementation, but this can lead to conflicts of interest. The alcohol industry's primary goal is profit, which often conflicts with public health objectives. Effective alcohol policies require independent regulation free from industry influence to ensure that public health is prioritized.

Research consistently shows that corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives by the alcohol industry, such as promoting responsible drinking, are largely ineffective. These initiatives often serve as marketing tools rather than genuine efforts to reduce harmful drinking. Studies have found that self-regulation by the alcohol industry fails to adequately protect public health. Self-regulatory codes have been found to be weak and poorly enforced, leading to the continued exposure of the public, including children and the youth, to pervasive and ubiquitous alcohol marketing.

In conclusion, the white paper's recommendations fall short of addressing the critical public health issues related to alcohol consumption in Cambodia. A stronger regulatory framework, independent of industry influence, is essential to effectively combat harmful drinking. Aligning with the WHO Global Alcohol Action Plan and prioritizing public health over commercial interests will be crucial in developing effective alcohol policies in Cambodia.

APAPA Secretariat, apalcoholpolicyalliance@gmail.com 

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: 

1.  Raise public awareness and advocacy  for political commitments

2. Reduce alcohol supply and regulate access to alcohol by young people

3. Reduce demand and regulate pro-drinking environment

4. 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

5. Initiate community interventions 

6. 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.   

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