Youth Empowerment

WHO estimates that 320,000 young people between the ages of 15 and 29 die from alcohol related causes. This represents 9% of all deaths in that age group. Alcohol is the world’s leading risk factor for all deaths of males 15 – 59.

The 2011 Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health states that there has been a marked increase in alcohol consumption amongst young people in recent years. The 2008 Global Report from 73 countries showed a five year trend in under-age drinking, with 71% of countries reporting an increase. The report also showed a five-year trend in drinking amongst 18-25 year olds, with 80% responding countries reporting an increase.

Patterns of heavy episodic and ‘binge’ drinking are now common amongst young people in many countries. New research suggests that such patterns of youth drinking may be causing serious damage to brains that are still in the process of development (see page 16). Excessive alcohol consumption is also a major risk factor for violence and risky sexual behaviour amongst young people, which can lead to injury, unwanted pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections, including HIV (see page 20).

It is also important to recognise that a number of young people are victims of the alcohol abuse of others, due to domestic violence, parental or guardian alcohol abuse, peer and public violence. Alcohol policy must address these issues.

The 2007 World Bank Development Report cautioned policy makers that “young people are exposed to a different range of health risks than before,” and of the “importance of building human capital in youth”. The report highlighted the need to create the right climate since “missed opportunities to invest in and prepare this generation will be extremely costly to reverse, both for young people and society.”

We have devoted this issue of the Globe to report on how young people are attempting to empower themselves for a better life protected from alcohol abuse. In combatting this growing and serious problem youth must speak to youth. It is imperative that policy makers enable them to do so.

At the first meeting of WHO National Counterparts for the Global Strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol it was decided that the timeframe for its implementation should be 2011 to 2019. It could well be by the suggested end date that those engaged in the youth networks, reported in this issue, could be among the leaders of public health in the decades that follow.

Derek Rutherford
Chairman
Global Alcohol Policy Alliance