The 58 World Health Assebly has adopted a resolution calling on WHO to examine public health problems caused by the harmful use of alcohol.

In May the Indian Alcohol Policy Alliance was officially launched with a seminar i Delhi. The alliance, an affiliate to the Global Alcohol Policy Alliance and a partner to FORUT, will be advocating for alcohol control policies in India.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has recently published the Global Status Report: Alcohol Policy. It aims to describe the present status of existing alcohol policies worldwide. The report is based on a review of existing policies in 118 countries and provides a brief snapshot of what is known about the effectiveness of alcohol policy measures.

Sumnima Tuladhar of CWIN presented the results of a study on alcohol and drug use among street children in six urban centres in Nepal at a FORUT conference recently. The children are very much affected by glue sniffing.

Consultation with NGOs in preperation of the the Action Plan "Fighting Poverty" released by the Norwegian Government recently led to the mentioning of alcohol in it.

The alcohol question in Nepal has been put to the extreme the last few months, with the maoist womens movement demanding a total ban on alcohol nation wide. This has lead to a negotiated settlement focusing on alcohol control. In this article the contact person in CWIN for the Local Action against Alcohol and Drugs project, Rupa Dhital, is focusing on alcohol control in Nepal.

"Alcohol and Drug Use in Nepal With Reference to Children" is the title of the report released in Kathmandu in June. This survey was conducted by Child Workers in Nepal (CWIN) in co-operation with the Thribhuvan University as part of the Local Action programme.

The Alcohol and Drug Information Centre (ADIC) in Colombo put alcohol policies on the agenda during last years election campaign in Sri Lanka. 37 out of 40 "recommended" candidates got a seat in the Parliament.