Advocacy for reducing the role of the global alcohol industry in health education

Alcohol is the third leading global cause of death and disability. The World Health Assembly recently approved a Global Strategy for Reducing Alcohol-Related Harm, which has led to new initiatives throughout the world to adopt more effective policies and practices to reduce excessive drinking. Because close to half or more of alcohol consumption in many countries is excessive consumption, the alcohol industry has a substantial conflict of interest with public health measures to reduce that consumption. To avoid this conflict, the Global Strategy explicitly confines the industry's role to implementation rather than planning of the Strategy. This presentation will document how the alcohol industry has sought to go beyond its prescribed role in the strategy, focusing on specific techniques the industry has used to educate the public and policy makers. These include coopting the strategy and claiming credit for industry actions that are ineffective; conducting and promoting flawed research on alcohol in low- and middle-income countries; and convincing health leaders and professionals to adopt ineffective national strategies. Public health responses to this have included the development of global and regional advocacy coalitions, a global petition campaign against industry conflicts of interest, and the development and dissemination of tools and trainings to equip health educators, policy makers and the public with guidance on implementing best and evidence-based practices.