The Renevlyn Development Initiative (RDI) has urged the Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the United Nations and the Nigeria delegation to recommend stronger language on alcohol harms in the UN Political Declaration on Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health so that it fulfills its promise to accelerate prevention and promote well-being worldwide.
The call is part of a global initiative by member groups of Movendi International, the largest independent global movement for development through alcohol prevention, to ensure that the UN Political Declaration on NCDs and Mental Health includes high-impact, evidence-based alcohol policy solutions.
According to RDI, alcohol harm is a major but under-addressed driver of NCDs and mental health conditions, even as it added that the current draft falls behind previously agreed language and ambitions for accelerating action on alcohol harm as a public health priority and misses critical opportunities for coherent, science-based action.
In the letter, RDI said that Nigeria, like other governments, now has the chance to restore clarity, ambition, and impact to alcohol policy within the declaration.
Addressing the Permanent Representative, RDI is asking for the Nigerian delegation to advance six concrete, constructive improvements which include:
- Replace ‘harmful use of alcohol’ with ‘alcohol harm’ or ‘per capita alcohol consumption’ for clarity and scientific accuracy;
- Retain the two alcohol policy best buys on availability limits and advertising bans, and include the missing SAFER interventions: screening and brief interventions as well as driving under the influence of alcohol counter-measures;
- Include alcohol screening and brief interventions among treatment and prevention commitments;
- Reinserting the 80% taxation target for alcohol and tobacco;
- Introduce language acknowledging and protecting against alcohol industry interference and the commercial determinants of health; and
- Align the declaration with the ambition, momentum, and global consensus of the Global Alcohol Action Plan to accelerate alcohol policy action by addressing alcohol harm as public health priority: Include fast-track action for alcohol policy.
RDI Executive Director, Philip Jakpor, said that the voice of the Permanent Representative and the Nigerian delegation can ensure that the declaration reflects both scientific evidence and global commitments – delivering measurable progress in protecting health, preventing disease, and safeguarding the right to well-being for all.