Rising alcohol consumption threatens health in India and globally
A press release from the Healthy India Alliance (HIA) calls for multi-sectoral action for the increasing alcohol consumption in India. The growth in per capita consumption is a global phenomenon, but the increase in India is way out of proportion to the rest of the world. Understandably, the negative impact is much more in low and low-middle income countries than in the Global North.
HIA (of which Pallium India is a member) calls for the following control measures:
- Comprehensive ban on all forms of alcohol advertising, promotion and sponsorship, including surrogate advertising of non-alcoholic products and online promotions, particularly on social media and depiction in movies and online streaming content;
- A uniform minimum legal drinking age (25 years) to check drinking among adolescents and young adults, with a robust strategy to check age at Points of Sale;
- Appropriate taxation across all forms of alcohol;
- Stringent enforcement of drink driving laws and regulations;
- Denormalisation of alcohol use as a social practice, through comprehensive and audience-specific health promotion campaigns
Please read:
Press Release: Healthy India Alliance calls for urgent multi-sectoral alcohol policy action in India
Global alcohol exposure between 1990 and 2017 and forecasts until 2030: a modelling study