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UN PhotoWHO / ALCOHOL AND DRUGS REPORT
STORY: WHO / ALCOHOL AND DRUGS REPORT
TRT: 02:49
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT WHO ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 24 JUNE 2024, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE
FILE - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Travelling shot, exterior WHO Headquarters
24 JUNE 2024, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Vladimir Poznyak, Unit Head, Alcohol, Drugs and Addictive Behaviours, Department of Mental Health, Brain Health and Substance Use, World Health Organization (WHO):
“We can definitely say that there is no risk-free alcohol consumption because there are many, many health conditions which can be worsened or can be developed because of alcohol consumption, including development of alcohol dependence and the risks and probability of development of these conditions is very difficult to predict. At the same time, we also can say with confidence that very low levels of consumption, very infrequent use, not necessarily bring harms to individuals.”
3. Wide shot Dr Poznyak being interviewed
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Vladimir Poznyak, Unit Head, Alcohol, Drugs and Addictive Behaviours, Department of Mental Health, Brain Health and Substance Use, World Health Organization (WHO):
“Well, in the European region, there are several countries which stand higher on the overall list.”
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Vladimir Poznyak, Unit Head, Alcohol, Drugs and Addictive Behaviours, Department of Mental Health, Brain Health and Substance Use, World Health Organization (WHO):
“But I would kindly ask to be cautious with any direct comparisons because for any estimates we have confidence intervals, we have challenges with the reliable estimation of the levels of consumption. That's why we prefer not to do ranking of countries in our data, though the data on levels of consumption is available for all countries of the world and presented in this report.”
6. Close up, camera
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Vladimir Poznyak, Unit Head, Alcohol, Drugs and Addictive Behaviours, Department of Mental Health, Brain Health and Substance Use, World Health Organization (WHO):
“Alcohol Use Disorder is a more, broader concept than alcohol dependence. According to the International Classification of Diseases of the World Health Organization, the concept of alcohol use disorder includes alcohol dependence and harmful patterns of alcohol use. The alcohol dependence is a disorder, a condition which has very specific diagnostic features and very specific requirements for making such diagnosis. Harmful pattern of use is also can be diagnosed only by health professionals, but in a sense, these are patterns or levels or context of harmful use, which results in negative health consequences for individuals. But these consequences should be detectable, they should be present. And these two conditions are combined for the concept of Alcohol Use Disorder.”
8. Various shots, interview
A new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) highlights that 2.6 million deaths per year were attributable to alcohol consumption, accounting for 4.7 percent of all deaths, and 0.6 million deaths to psychoactive drug use.
The Global status report on alcohol and health and treatment of substance use disorders presents a comprehensive overview of alcohol consumption, alcohol-related harm and policy responses as well as treatment capacities for alcohol and drug use disorders worldwide.
SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Vladimir Poznyak, Unit Head, Alcohol, Drugs and Addictive Behaviours, Department of Mental Health, Brain Health and Substance Use, World Health Organization (WHO):
“We can definitely say that there is no risk-free alcohol consumption because there are many, many health conditions which can be worsened or can be developed because of alcohol consumption, including development of alcohol dependence and the risks and probability of development of these conditions is very difficult to predict. At the same time, we also can say with confidence that very low levels of consumption, very infrequent use, not necessarily bring harms to individuals.”
According to the report, 2 million of alcohol and 0.4 million of drug-attributable deaths were among men.
SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Vladimir Poznyak, Unit Head, Alcohol, Drugs and Addictive Behaviours, Department of Mental Health, Brain Health and Substance Use, World Health Organization (WHO):
“Well, in the European region, there are several countries which stand higher on the overall list.”
SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Vladimir Poznyak, Unit Head, Alcohol, Drugs and Addictive Behaviours, Department of Mental Health, Brain Health and Substance Use, World Health Organization (WHO):
“But I would kindly ask to be cautious with any direct comparisons because for any estimates we have confidence intervals, we have challenges with the reliable estimation of the levels of consumption. That's why we prefer not to do ranking of countries in our data, though the data on levels of consumption is available for all countries of the world and presented in this report.”
The report shows an estimated 400 million people lived with alcohol and drug use disorders globally. Of this, 209 million people lived with alcohol dependence.
SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Vladimir Poznyak, Unit Head, Alcohol, Drugs and Addictive Behaviours, Department of Mental Health, Brain Health and Substance Use, World Health Organization (WHO):
“Alcohol Use Disorder is a more, broader concept than alcohol dependence. According to the International Classification of Diseases of the World Health Organization, the concept of alcohol use disorder includes alcohol dependence and harmful patterns of alcohol use. The alcohol dependence is a disorder, a condition which has very specific diagnostic features and very specific requirements for making such diagnosis. Harmful pattern of use is also can be diagnosed only by health professionals, but in a sense, these are patterns or levels or context of harmful use, which results in negative health consequences for individuals. But these consequences should be detectable, they should be present. And these two conditions are combined for the concept of Alcohol Use Disorder.”
On the basis of data collected from countries on the treatment of substance use disorders the report describes the status of key components of treatment responses to alcohol and drug use disorders and proposes a new service capacity index for these disorders as an additional contextual indicator for monitoring progress in this domain of SDG health target 3.5.
The report concludes with broad directions for international action to accelerate progress towards achievement of SDG health target 3.5.
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