Alcohol Issues - Alcohol as obstacle to development

Alcohol Issues - Episode 3

Alcohol as obstacle to development

Movendi International's weekly conversation about the latest alcohol issues in policy and science and new alcohol industry revelations.

For this third episode, I’m talking with Dudley Tarlton who is a program specialist for health and development at the United Nations Development Program, UNDP.

It’s an insightful conversation that provides unique perspectives on alcohol as obstacle to development and some inspiring ideas how to tackle it.

UNDP stands out among UN programs and agencies for their strong support of WHO and for their commitment to work on alcohol, health and development. I talk with Dudley about why UNDP is so committed and why some other UN programs and agencies are not yet addressing alcohol harm in their specific fields of expertise.

Dudley and UNDP address alcohol as obstacle to development not only from a health burden perspective but are also making other linkages – to poverty, economy and even environment. Dudley is also going into more detail regarding this unique approach.

And we discuss alcohol policy solutions as catalysts for development: how that works, what resonates with countries and what Dudley thinks are key issues to advance alcohol policy solutions to accelerate the SDGs.

Regarding the weekly highlights of alcohol issues in policy, science and Big Alcohol revelations, we discuss the alcohol burden in the UK; in science digest we talk about alcohol use and brain damage; and in the Big Alcohol Exposed segment we will dive into a new report about how health harmful industries exploit COVID-19 for marketing purposes.

Resources for the conversation with Dudley Tarlton, program specialist, health and development, UNDP

Follow Dudley on Twitter. Overview of alcohol as obstacle to development and linkages to other SDGs adversely affected by alcohol. More information about the SAFER technical package, on the WHO website. UNDP's work on NCDs

• Issue brief "Preventing and controlling NCDs"
• UNDP guidance note on NCDs investment cases

Fact sheet: Alcohol and NCDs https://movendi.ngo/news/2019/05/20/new-resource-alcohol-and-ncds-harm-and-solutions/ More about the WHO-UNDP Joint Program on alcohol, infectious diseases and violence

1. Example workshop in African region: https://www.who.int/substance_abuse/activities/botswana_2016/en/
2. Overall description of the joint program

Resources for the weekly alcohol issues update

In terms of alcohol policy news, this week we published a long-read about alcohol harm in the UK, to foster understanding of current issues and the alcohol burden in the country. Two reports came out recently that – taken together – bring into focus the specific alcohol issues troubling British society and the solutions that communities are calling for.

This week’s alcohol issues in science are about alcohol harm to the human brain.

A new study has found even low-dose alcohol use can lead to brain damage in the form of loss of brain volume. These new findings have implications specifically for middle aged and older people.

This week’s alcohol issues concerning Big Alcohol dives into a new report about how health harmful industries exploit COVID-19 for marketing purposes.

A brand new report by the NCD Alliance and the SPECTRUM Research Consortium has exposed how Big Alcohol along with other unhealthy industries turns COVID-19 into the world’s largest marketing campaign. The report outlines four main strategies used by these industries and contains more than 360 examples of alcohol industry activities exploiting the public health crisis to pursue profit maximization.

For feedback, questions and suggestions of future discussion topics, please get in touch at: info@movendi.ngo