Pacific people meet to discuss alcohol policy issues

Government officials from 17 Pacific islands and territories attended a meeting on “Alcohol and Health in the Pacific” at the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC) headquarters in Noumea, New Caledonia. The meeting was sponsored by the Secretariat of the Pacific Community (SPC), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the New Zealand Ministry of Health.

The SPC has an extensive Public Health Programme but this was the first regional meeting in 20 years to look at alcohol and health in the Pacific.

Dr Harley Stanton, SPC’s health promotion adviser outlined the reason for the meeting: “Alcohol use in the Pacific has increased significantly and measures aimed at reducing alcohol related health and social problems, such as violence, car crashes, domestic violence, sexual assaults, child abuse, suicide, have not kept pace. It is a cause of concern to the Secretariat of the Pacific Community.”

Cheap alcohol is now sold widely through the Pacific. Twenty years ago, much of the Pacific was virtually alcohol-free but there are now rising rates of problem drinking in many Island countries. In Tuvalu and the Solomon Islands, only 20-30 per cent of the population drink alcohol, but rates are much higher in the Cook Islands, New Caledonia and Tahiti.

Drinking by young people is of great concern. “I have visited Kiribati for many years, and it is quite common to see young men wandering down roads drunk in the middle of the day,” Dr Stanton said.

Participants presented island profiles during the meeting and these are summarised in this issue of the Globe. (pages 6-12) The profiles show the following trends :

• The percentage of alcohol users in populations varies quite significantly across the region from 20-30 per cent in some low use countries such as the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and to some extent Vanuatu, up to 80-90 per cent of the population in French Polynesia, New Caledonia and Wallis and Futuna;

• There is a strong bias to male drinking in a number of countries including the Federated States of Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and to a large extent Vanuatu;

• Within most countries, among those who do use alcohol roughly 20-30 per cent are heavy drinkers and exhibit problem drinking behaviours;

• Many Pacific drinkers drink episodically or in a “binge” way,particularly at weekend;

• There is a widespread and increasing problem of youth drinking at earlier ages in a large number of the countries. This was reported from the Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Guam, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Palau, Tonga and Vanuatu.

The meeting agreed that strong political commitment was needed to support and finance coordinated responses to alcohol problems. The SPC and WHO were asked to help Pacific Island countries gather information on alcohol use, health and social consequences and economic costs. The SPC also undertook to support a network of Pacific people working on alcohol policies and strategies, in collaboration with the Western Pacific Regional Office of WHO and in partnership with the Global Alcohol Policy Alliance.

Recommendations of SPC/WHO Alcohol and Health Meeting

The Technical Report¹ of the meeting is circulated to governments, relevant organisations in the countries, donor organisations and relevant regional and international organisations;

A working group comprising interested members of the 2004 SPC/WHO meeting on alcohol and health in the Pacific with input from representatives from key nongovernmental organisations, is convened by the SPC in collaboration with the Western Pacific Regional Office of the WHO during the first quarter of 2005 to enable follow up to this meeting and to develop a draft Regional Action Plan to reduce the harm done by alcohol, within the context of existing regional activities, including the Tonga Commitment and the Healthy Islands initiative;

Following the working group meeting, a broader meeting should be convened of the Pacific Island Countries and Territories, the SPC, the WHO, donors, regional organisations and relevant non-governmental organisations to further the development of the draft, and to prepare a coordinated plan for donor cooperation prior to wider consultation with and consideration by Pacific Island Countries and Territories;

Where these are not already in place, Pacific Island Countries and Territories are urged to convene inter-agency coalitions and partnerships, including representatives of governmental and non-governmental organisations, public health, health, law enforcement, social welfare, women’s and youth groups to receive the report of the meeting and to strengthen national efforts through the development of appropriate national plans of action;

The country coalitions should consider the feasibility of increased and sustainable funding for alcohol policies and programmes through the establishment of a national health foundation or similar organisation, where such foundations or organisations are not in place, which could be funded through a proportion of tax on alcohol;

Mechanisms should be encouraged at the country level to enhance the efficient planning, coordination and management of alcohol related projects and programmes;

The SPC and the WHO are requested to provide technical assistance and capacity building to the Pacific Island Countries and Territories to support their efforts to reduce the harm done by alcohol, including efforts to establish health foundations or similar organisations;

The SPC and the WHO are requested to work with the Pacific Island Countries and Territories to increase the availability and analysis of data on alcohol use, its health and social consequences and its economic costs, also linked to the broader context of NCD prevention and surveillance;

Donors are invited to consider expansion of the Pacific Action for Health project to as many Pacific Island Countries and Territories as possible, including reviews on existing alcohol policies;

The Pacific Island Countries and Territories and regional organisations should work to ensure that regional and global trade agreements such as the Pacific Islands Countries Trade Agreement (PICTA) do not limit the capacity of signatory countries to utilise taxation or other policy measures to prevent the public health and social disorder consequences of alcohol;

A network of representatives of Pacific Island Countries and Territories on alcohol policies and strategies should be established and supported by SPC in collaboration with the Western Pacific Regional Office of the World Health Organization and in partnership with the Global Alcohol Policy Alliance; and

The Western Pacific Regional Office of the World Health Organization is invited to include alcohol as a technical topic in its September 2005 Regional meeting. Further, Member States are invited to raise the issue of the prevention of the harm done by alcohol at the Pacific Islands Forum and at forthcoming regional meetings of ministers of health, trade and youth.

¹ SPC/WHO Meeting On Alcohol and Health in the Pacific, 28th- 30thSeptember, 2004, Noumea, New Caledonia, Secretariat of the Pacific Community, Noumea, New Caledonia, www.spc.org.nc/health

Asia Pacific NGOs meet in Auckland

Prior to the governmental meeting in Noumea non-government organisations and public health agencies from the Cook Islands, Fiji, Kiribati, Niue, Samoa and Tonga met in Auckland, to discuss alcohol policy There were also participants from China, Japan and Sri Lanka. A key purpose of the gathering was to begin building a Pacific network on alcohol policy issues.

The meeting was funded by New Zealand’s Ministry of Health and hosted by Professor Sally Casswell, Director of the SHORE Centre, Massey University, Auckland.

SHORE’s Pacific researchers and partner research group WhÇriki participated. There were also participants from New Zealand nongovernment organisations, Alcohol Healthwatch and NZ Drug Foundation and invited speakers from non-government umbrella organisations Eurocare and the Global Alcohol Policy Alliance.

A main discussion point of the meeting was a report commissioned by the Pacific Forum about the inclusion of alcohol and tobacco in the Pacific Island Countries Trade Agreement (PICTA). The report had looked at the impact of free trade in alcohol on the location and quality of production, local employment and tariff revenues for Pacific governments, but did not consider the social and public health impact of increased trade in alcohol or the economic consequences of these.(See Stanley Simpson’s paper delivered at the meeting page ).

An Action Plan that included suggestions on the minimum age of purchase, drink driving laws, licensing, controls on advertising and sponsorship, research capacity, community action and trade treaty issues was agreed.

In the Pacific Island profiles contributions from NGO representatives at the Auckland meeting are included.