Lessons for alcohol policy from the coronavirus crisis: potential and challenges for building back better

Alcohol Issues Podcast - Special Episode 20

Lessons For Alcohol Policy From the Coronavirus Crisis: Potential and Challenges For Building Back Better

Movendi International's weekly in-depth conversation about latest alcohol issues in policy and science and new alcohol industry revelations.

Welcome to the Alcohol Issues Podcast and our 20th episode - another Special Episode as Kristina Sperkova is back on the podcast.

Kristina is the International President of Movendi International. Movendi International is the largest global social movement for development through alcohol prevention. More than 130 Member Organizations from more than 50 countries work together to address alcohol as obstacle to development in the most comprehensive way.

In this Special Episode Kristina reflects on the recent joint event during the 74th World Health Assembly about alcohol policy, COVID-19 and building back better.

The conversation with Kristina was recorded on June 11, 2021 and the event itself took place on May 27th.

Discussing the lethal interaction between alcohol and COVID-19 and the potential of alcohol policy as catalyst for building back better

During the 74th session of the World Health Assembly, Movendi International together with the NCD Alliance, the World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe, and the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) jointly hosted a virtual side event with the title "Lessons for alcohol policy from the coronavirus crisis: potential and challenges for building back better".

The event brought together high-level decision-makers from member states, WHO regions and opinion leaders from civil society and intergovernmental organizations to discuss the role of alcohol prevention and control for building back better in the coming months and years.

Host Maik Dünnbier talks with Kristina about key insights and the most important lessons that were discussed during the event.

Kristina reflects on the analysis that each of the speakers shared and what she thinks the highlights were. More than a year into the global pandemic, we aimed to take stock of global and regional experiences and knowledge around alcohol and the coronavirus crisis.

We also hear from the speakers themselves with crucial facts, succinct explanations and powerful quotes.

And Kristina talks about the crucial lessons learned for the way forward.

In the event the speakers collectively mapped the needs for addressing alcohol harm going forward. And they shared lessons learned to come out of the crisis and into a better future with the help of alcohol policy solutions.

Resources for the special episode 

Read the event summary here, where you can also find all the presentations:

• Joint Event Report: Lessons For Alcohol Policy From the Coronavirus Crisis

Three major reports have provided unique and timely insights into the lethal interactions between alcohol and COVID-19.

• Exposed: How Big Alcohol Turns COVID-19 Into the World’s Largest Marketing Campaign - get to the Signalling Virtue report here...

• Groundbreaking New Report Shows Lethal Interaction Between Alcohol and Coronavirus Pandemic - get to the alcohol and COVID-19 report here... 

• New OECD Report Summary: Governments Should Step Up Efforts to Prevent, Reduce Alcohol Harm - get to the OECD report here...

• WHO: Restrict Alcohol Access During COVID-19 Lockdown - get to the WHO guidance here...

• WHO: Alcohol Use NOT a COVID-19 Coping Tool - get to the WHO coping tool here... 

See the entire event

• Watch the event and see all the presentations on YouTube...

Feedback

For feedback, questions and suggestions of future topics, please get in touch at maik.duennbier@movendi.ngo.

You are most welcome to follow Movendi International and Maik Dünnbier on Twitter, too.