Prabin Mishra, secretary for the Ministry of Health and Population, said alcohol doesn’t only affect the socio, economic and health sectors of the country but overall impacts the Millennium Development Goal, which sought to alleviate the country’s poverty level by 2015. [break]
“If health sector’s goal is to achieve the Millennium Development Goal, an alcohol strategy should be achieved,” Mishra said. “We need to cut down alcohol consumption.”
According to the Resource Centre for Primary Health Care, in Nepal, 67.5 percent of age group between 15 to 59 years use alcohol and 80 percent of them are men between 18 to 29 years.
Mishra said there should be a policy regarding age and accessibility on alcohol. He also stressed on rules for drunken driving citing there should be strict “monitoring and evaluation for night drivers” and should introduce penalties for them.
Balsagar Giri, deputy secretary for the Ministry, who also looks over the legal section, said there should be a comprehensive legal act in cooperation with the government, civil society and private sector.
“There needs to be an act,” Giri said citing prevailing regulations, policies and drafts that are not properly implemented.
During the two-hour program, Mathura Prasad Shrestha, advisor for NAPA, and Ganesh Gurung, general secretary of Physicians for Social Responsibility, talked about the drawbacks of alcohol on health, household and society.
Sumnima Tuladhar, executive coordinator of CWIN, blamed the media for “glamorization of alcohol” and sending “unwanted messages” to the young population. She stressed on the restriction of availability of alcoholic products and advocated for a “zero-tolerance of age limit,” to buy and consume alcoholic beverages, which could bar early initiation of alcohol consumption.
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