The WHO member states keeps the Social Determinants of Health process on track by passing a resolution based on the commission report at the World Health Assembly last month. The Health Assembly next year will discuss a proposed global strategy to reduce harmful use of alcohol.

Two journalists of the Swedish radio documentary "Kaliber" visited Malawi and filed a report about those who experience the alcohol problems first hand, and the industry representative that think there is no alochol problem in the country.

At a high-level meeting of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs (CND) in Vienna last week a new Political Declaration and an Action Plan for international drug control were adopted. The documents call for intensified, as well as balanced and comprehensive action by governments world wide.

Input from NGOs, alcohol industry and other institutions to the WHO process towards a Global Strategy are now available at the WHO web site.

An international group of experts have concluded on the current knowledge base on possible linkages between alcohol and infectious diseases like tuberculoses and HIV/AIDS. Their conclusions are now summarized in an editorial in the international scientific journal Addiction.

Dates are now set for the regional consultation meetings between WHO and the Member States. They are part of the process towards a Global Strategy to reduce Harmful Use of Alcohol. The first meeting will take place in Bangkok in the end of February.