As future health professionals, we should be aware of the ways in which ongoing demographic and social change might shape the patterns of illness we see in our careers. Srimathy Vijajan discusses the WHO’s approach to global trends in alcohol consumption, now thought to be the fifth most important risk factor in the global burden of disease.

 The World Health Organization’s 2002 World Health Report (1) marked alcohol consumption as a significant risk factor for global health. Estimates for 2002 suggest that at least 2.3 million people died worldwide as a result of alcohol-related causes, accounting for 3.7% of global mortality that year. (2)Alcohol is known to contribute to over sixty known health problems, including alcoholic liver disease, oesophageal cancer and epilepsy. (3) As well as the obvious health consequences of alcohol consumption, there are also substantial associated financial, social, and emotional outcomes. (4) For example, a report by the Directorate General of the European Commission responsible for Public Health indicated that alcohol attributable disease, injury and violence cost the health, welfare, employment and criminal justice sectors £84 billion each year. Furthermore, the intangible costs of suffering and lost life added a further £182 billion each year. (5)

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