Lithuania has managed to cut alcohol consumption significantly in record time after implementing the World Health Organization’s (WHO) recommendations, foreign and local experts have said.
Lithuania stands out as a unique case – thanks to the WHO guidelines it has followed, life expectancy in the country has started to increase, and alcohol poisoning cases have been halved, according to experts.
Maria Neufeld, an expert at the WHO Regional Office for Europe, says that Lithuania is unique because it has implemented in record time the organisation’s recommendations to increase alcohol taxation, limit availability, and ban or restrict the advertising of strong alcoholic drinks.
“These (implemented recommendations) have had a huge impact,” Neufeld said at a press conference in Vilnius on Wednesday.
“Alcohol consumption has dropped by several litters (per person). Thousands of lives have been saved. Millions of euros have been saved or collected (in budget revenue) through higher taxes,” she added.
According to Neufeld, Lithuania serves as an interesting case study when examining the implementation of WHO recommendations and their effect.
The expert noted, however, that strong alcohol consumption in the country is still higher than the EU average.
“In Lithuania, people still consume slightly more alcohol than the EU average. So, there’s still room for improvement, but things are heading in the right direction,” she said.
During Lithuania’s active campaign to reduce alcohol consumption, life expectancy began to rise, and hospital admissions due to alcohol use declined, said Juergen Rehm, chairman of the working group on the International Agency for Research on Cancer’s series of publications on alcohol policies.
Rehm also pointed out that the alcohol advertising ban led to halving the alcohol poisoning cases in the country.
“This means the measure worked. Young people no longer receive daily alcohol consumption messages targeted at them through social media,” he noted.
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