SHORE and Whariki News


Asia Pacific Meeting on Alcohol Policy, Auckland, 23 September 2004

Twenty delegates from the Asia Pacific region met in Auckland to identify strategies to minimise the harm caused by alcohol in the region.

The workshop, funded by the Ministry of Health and hosted by Centre for Social and Health Outcomes Research and Evaluation (SHORE) Massey University, was one of a series of linked initiatives planned in the Pacific region to increase awareness of the environmental influences contributing to alcohol-related harm and of the effective policies which can reduce communities' experience of harm caused by alcohol. The World Health Organization estimated in 2002 that alcohol was ranked the fifth highest contributor to the burden of disease and disability in the world and was the largest contributor to disability-adjusted life years lost among young men in countries such as those in the Asia Pacific region. Furthermore, it is anticipated that there will be expansion of the alcohol market in many of these communities along with economic development.

Delegates discussed a number of prepared papers on alcohol consumption surveillance and alcohol policy.Their feedback was then incorporated and the amended the papers circulated at an intergovernmental First Meeting on Alcohol and Health in the Pacific, co-sponsored by Secretariat of the Pacific Communities (SPC), WHO and the NZ Ministry of Health and held in Noumea 28 - 30th September.

Back