As the United Nations gathers for its annual General Assembly, progress on the Sustainable Development Goals will take center stage. One promising area under Sustainable Development Goal 3 regarding good health and well-being, is the progress that the world has made on reducing the harmful use of alcohol.
On several key indicators, we’ve made important shifts. According to the World Health Organization, “From 2010 to 2019, the number of deaths attributable to alcohol per 100 000 people decreased by 20.2% — greater than the overall decrease in total deaths worldwide for the same period of time (14.8%); similarly a decrease in the number of alcohol-attributable DALYs lost within the same period (18.3%) was larger than the observed decrease in all-cause DALYs lost (14.0%).” Fewer people are drinking and driving, fewer people are binge drinking, and fewer people are dying from using alcohol in a harmful way.
While the numbers are a source of optimism, there is still a tremendous amount of work to be done, and collaboration between the public and private sectors is key to continuing this encouraging trend.