More than three million people died from using alcohol in 2012 for reasons ranging from cancer to violence, the World Health Organisation said yesterday.
While it called on governments to do more to limit the damage, a WHO expert on chronic disease and mental health, Oleg Chestnov, said, “More needs to be done to protect populations from the negative health consequences of alcohol consumption.”
He said that there was “no room for complacency” and warned that drinking too much kills more men then women, raises people’s risk of developing more than 200 diseases, and killed 3.3 million people in 2012.
On average, according to the WHO report, every person in the world aged 15 years or older drinks 6.2 litres of pure alcohol per year. But less than half the population - 38.3 percent – drinks, so those who do drink on average 17 litres of pure alcohol a year.
“We found that worldwide about 16 percent of drinkers engage in heavy episodic drinking – often referred to as ‘binge-drinking’ – which is the most harmful to health,” the report said.
Poorer people are generally more affected by the social and health consequences of alcohol.
He said: “They often lack quality health care and are less protected by functional family or community networks.”
According to the most recent data from the WHO, Nigeria currently ranks 27th globally in alcohol consumption among adults (age 15+) in litres per capita per year, making it the leading African country in alcohol consumption.
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