Alcohol Issues Movendi International

For the fourth episode in the third season of the Alcohol Issues Podcast we discuss and expose the “master manipulators”.
In two very recent Alcohol Policy Evaluation Hearings in both the Scottish and British Parliaments, alcohol industry participation drew widespread criticism and scrutiny. We discuss why and what can be done about it.
In this episode, we reveal and discuss the lobbying narratives and spin of alcohol industry lobbyists on display in two separate parliamentary hearings.

Seen with the eyes of our children, the world we live in has an alcohol problem.
 
In 2021, UNICEF released the flagship report entitled “The State of the World’s Children”. It explored the mental health of children, adolescents and caregivers. The report addressed alcohol as a risk factor for the mental health of children and young people. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), such as violence, abuse, neglect, household alcohol problems, are in turn linked to sexual risk taking, mental health issues, alcohol and other drug use problems and violence. Thus, perpetuating a vicious cycle. 
 
That children have to grow up in homes with alcohol problems is an invisible and silent but massive crisis - worldwide.
 
For this podcast conversation we have invited four guests to discuss how we can provide support to children growing up in households with alcohol problems.
 
Dr. Joanna Lai DrPH, MPH, MsED
Health Specialist
Maternal Newborn Adolescent Health Unit
Health Section, Programme Division
UNICEF NYHQ 
 
Kristina Sperkova, MPsy
International President, Movendi International,
President, Movendi SK
 
Mr.Winyoo Srisupachok
Social Innovation engineer
Project consultant,
The Cultivation of children for Positive Consciousness and protection from health risk factors (Alcohol, Tobacco, other Drugs etc.)
Stop Drink Network in Thailand
 
Mona Örjes
President,
Junis, social movement in Sweden for child rights and child health with a focus on protecting children who grow up in household with alcohol problem
 
We recorded this conversation as a livestreamed event on February 15, 2024, during the global awareness week for children of households with alcohol problems.
 
There is a pressing need for more action to increase recognition of and support for children of households with alcohol problems. 
 
Some community programs exists and some advocacy campaigns show promising results, along with growing attention to the magnitude and urgency of the problem.
 
In a timely event, Movendi International brings together experts in the fields of child rights and child health with community leaders working to protect children from adverse experiences due to parental alcohol use problems.

For the second episode in our third season we discuss alcohol issues past, present, and future. Together with the President of Movendi International, Kristina Sperkova, we will review key alcohol policy highlights in 2023 and we will discuss the outlook for alcohol policy trends in 2024.

How Communities Can Advance Cancer Prevention Through Awareness and Policy Action on Alcohol
Season 3, Episode 1
For the first episode in our third season we discuss an action agenda to address the link between alcohol and cancer: How can communities advance cancer prevention through awareness and policy action on alcohol.
Cancer due to alcohol affects millions of people every year but the alcohol industry still keeps people in the dark about the fact that their products cause 7 types of cancer.
In Movendi International, one of our biggest priorities is to help prevent cancer through alcohol policy. Last year we launched the Be Loud For Change campaign to empower and engage communities to advocate for change by raising awareness about alcohol and cancer and by promoting action from policy makers. In the first year, we’ve seen some inspiring progress.
For this podcast conversation we have invited four guests to discuss how the alcohol industry keeps people in the dark about alcohol and cancer and what we can do about it. And we explore insights and lessons from both science and community action in countries such as Sweden, Uganda, and Colombia to chart an ambitious way forward.
The Guests
Dr Nason Maani is a Lecturer in Inequalities and Global Health Policy at the University of Edinburgh’s Global Health Policy Unit. His research seeks to describe the mechanisms through which commercial actors affect health inequalities, knowledge and public discourse. He serves as an invited expert and technical consultant for the WHO global programme on economic and commercial determinants of health, and is the host of Money Power Health, a podcast series discussing the social and commercial forces that shape our health. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts, and a 2019-2020 Commonwealth Fund Harkness Fellow.
Dr Blanca Llorente is Research Director at Fundacion Anaas in Colombia. She is an Economist from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, with decades of experience in teaching and research on topics related to economics, environment and health. She has also developed community interventions for the prevention of non-communicable diseases, including tobacco control and alcohol policy development.
Emil Juslin is the former head of the EU office of IOGT-NTO, the largest social movement for alcohol prevention in Sweden. Emil has deep experience in both alcohol policy advocacy, community engagement, and exposing and counter-acting alcohol industry interference in Swedish and EU policy-making processes.
Juliet Namukasa is the country director of LM International in Uganda and the chair of the Uganda Alcohol Policy Alliance. Juliet is also a member of the International Board of Movendi International. She has profound experience in poverty eradication work in Uganda, lifting up people and communities through advancing community-based and population-level policy solutions.
We recorded this conversation as a livestreamed event on February 2, 2024.
Questions we discussed
How does the alcohol industry keep people in the dark about alcohol and cancer?

Overall: what are some of the efforts of the alcohol industry to influence the public discourse in their favor; and to influence the framing of alcohol problems and possible solutions regarding alcohol harm?
How are alcohol industry organisations misleading the public about alcohol and cancer? What are the three main strategies you have identified?

Community action example #1: Sweden

How big is the cancer burden due to alcohol in Sweden? What is the level of awareness among the public healthcare professionals and politicians?
How does the campaign in Sweden work to raise awareness about alcohol and cancer?

Community action example #2: Uganda

Is cancer an issue of concern in Uganda?
How are you using the evidence about alcohol and cancer in your advocacy work and what is the response you receive?

Community action example #3: Colombia

How big is the cancer burden due to alcoh

The Alcohol Issues Podcast – Season 3 Episode 01
This podcast episode is part of Movendi International’s work to support an evidence-based approach to protecting more people from alcohol harm.
Two quotes from the report outline the importance, urgency, and potential of the subject of this podcast:
Especially alcohol as risk factor for hypertension has not yet been given the attention it deserves in policy, guidelines and clinical practice.
The role that alcohol consumption can play in the development of high blood pressure is not well understood by the general public, by healthcare providers or by health policymakers.
In this conversation Dr. Tim Naimi talks in-depth about alcohol and blood pressure – and what societies, law makers, health systems and people can do about it.
The conversation
The conversation covers a range of topics. Among others, Tim and Maik discuss questions, such as:
Why does the issue of blood pressure matter in the context of alcohol harm? Why did you and your colleagues decide to write a research report about the issue?
How does hypertension relate to heart disease in general? What is the global burden of hypertension? 
Why is it important to know about alcohol’s effect on blood pressure?
What is alcohol’s causal role in hypertension?

There is increasing scientific scepticism for the once widely held belief that low dose alcohol use can provide protection from cardiovascular diseases. Why is scepticism growing? What does the report add to this development?
In the report you talk about “untapped potential for improved clinical practices and broad-based population-wide alcohol policies to prevent ill-health and prolong life.” Why do clinical guidelines matter and how does the report recommend alcohol should be addressed at the population level?
Why does alcohol policy matter for heart disease prevention?

The guest: Dr. Timothy Naimi
Dr. Timothy Naimi is currently the Director at the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research, at the University of Victoria, BC, Canada.
He has worked as a physician for the U.S. Indian Health Service, and as a senior epidemiologist with the Alcohol Team at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and as professor in the Boston University Schools of Public Health and Medicine. His research interests include alcohol epidemiology, the health effects of substance use, and the impact of alcohol and cannabis policies. 
Tim is part of an international group of researchers that come together every year to dive deeply into a specific topic of alcohol research. They conduct extensive research to identify relevant published science on the selected topic. And then, the group reviews and summarizes the search results. This analysis is then published in a report. This year the report deals with alcohol and blood pressure and podcast host Maik Dünnbier has the chance to talk with Tim Naimi about the key findings, conclusions and what it all means.
Resources for the episode 
Movendi International has published more than 40 resources about the link between alcohol and heart disease, since 2015.
Research report: Alcohol and Blood Pressure.
Media Release: Even Small Amounts of Alcohol Can Be Harmful to Blood Pressure and the Heart
The World Heart Federation (WHF) published a policy brief in early 2022 that showed the strong evidence base that no amount of alcohol is good for the heart.
The Alcohol Issues Special Feature: “
Alcohol and Heart Disease: “What we know about alcohol’s role in multiple heart conditions and risk factors for negative cardiovascular outcomes”
Research report: Effects of low dose alcohol consumption.


Feedback
Your feedback, questions, and suggestions for future topics and guests is most welcome. Please get in touch at: maik.duennbier@movendi.ngo.
You are most welcome to follow Movendi International and Maik Dünnbier on Twitter, too.


Listen to the episode
Listen to season 3, episode 01 of the Alcoh

Achieving the SDGs Through Alcohol Policy: European Countries Ignore The Potential
The Alcohol Issues Podcast – Season 2 Episode 09
Flawed understanding of alcohol harm leads to lost potential in using alcohol policy as catalyst for sustainable development.
Alcohol is, for example, a driver of poverty and hunger (SDG 1 and 2). The products and practices of the alcohol industry cause a significant and increasing global disease burden (SDG 3). Alcohol is a risk factor for violence (SDG 5 and 16), and it contributes to inequalities (SDG 5 and 10). The harm caused by alcohol companies undermines economic productivity and hinders economic growth (SDG 8), disrupts sustainable consumption (SDG 12) and adversely impacts the environment (SDG 6, 13 and 15). 
But these effects are not considered by European countries in the design of measures to achieve these sustainable development goals. Effective alcohol policy solutions, the so called three best buys, are largely missing from transformative action that the Agenda 2030 calls for and that governments committed to.
In this show guest host Pierre Andersson talks with Kristina Sperkova about her freshly published peer-reviewed research article that examines how European countries address alcohol as obstacle to development.
In their conversation, they discuss alcohol policy issues beyond the WHO Global Alcohol Action Plan to enhance the understanding of alcohol policy not only as public health priority but also as human rights priority – and the potential of such an approach.
S2 E9 Topic: New Study Illustrates Failure of European Countries to Address Alcohol as Obstacle to Sustainable Development


Alcohol is, for example, a driver of poverty and hunger (SDG 1 and 2). The products and practices of the alcohol industry cause a significant and increasing global disease burden (SDG 3). Alcohol is a risk factor for violence (SDG 5 and 16), and it contributes to inequalities (SDG 5 and 10). The harm caused by alcohol companies undermines economic productivity and hinders economic growth (SDG 8), disrupts sustainable consumption (SDG 12) and adversely impacts the environment (SDG 6, 13 and 15). 

 

But these effects are not considered by European countries in the design of measures to achieve these sustainable development goals. Effective alcohol policy solutions, the so called three best buys, are largely missing from transformative action that the Agenda 2030 calls for and that governments committed to.
A brand-new study provides ground-breaking analysis showing that most European countries fail to address alcohol as obstacle to multiple other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) than health in the design of measures to make progress towards the SDGs. To make matters worse, inaccurate language related to alcohol harm indicates gaps in understanding of the extent of the alcohol burden and the consequences for sustainable development. This first-of-its-kind study, published in the peer reviewed journal PLOS ONE, spotlights the need to improve countries’ recognition of alcohol harm as cross-cutting impediment to 14 of 17 SDGs and countries’ capacity to utilize alcohol policy solutions as catalyst for sustainable development.
The guest host and the guest expert
This episode is guest hosted Pierre Andersson. He talks with Kristina Sperkova about her brand new study about the uptake of alcohol policy as catalyst for sustainable development in European countries.
Pierre Andersson is the Policy Advisor Alcohol and Development at the IOGT-NTO Movement, from Sweden. The IOGT-NTO Movement is a Swedish development organization that works for poverty eradication by supporting partners to tackle alcohol as obstacle to development. Pierre has extensive experience is journalism as well as development work.
Follow Pierre on Twitter: @pierrea
Follow Pierre on LinkedIn: Pierre Andersson
Kristina Sperkova is the International President at Movendi International. She is the lead author of the pe