The World Health Organization (WHO) has an important role in global monitoring of alcohol use and health consequences of alcohol and psychoactive drug use in accordance with its key roles and mandates. The mandate for global monitoring of alcohol consumption, its health consequences and policy responses come from several World Health Assembly (WHA) resolutions (WHA58.26, WHA63.13, WHA75.11). The Global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol 2010 and Global alcohol action plan 2022-2030 highlight monitoring and surveillance as one of the key components for global action, and the global alcohol action plan specifies global targets, indicators and milestones which require regular updates of WHO estimates of alcohol consumption, alcohol-attributable disease burden and policy responses.
WHO is well-positioned to generate the estimates of disease burden attributable to psychoactive drug use, and contribute to the work of United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) with regard to prevalence of drug use in populations and its impact on population health. WHO and UNODC are custodian agencies for global reporting on SDG health target 3.5 that has indicators on alcohol consumption and treatment coverage for substance use disorders. The Technical advisory group on alcohol and drug epidemiology has an important role in fulfilling WHO’s mandate regarding global monitoring of alcohol and drug use and their impact on population health as well as on epidemiological basis of policy and programme responses.
To support these efforts, WHO established the Technical Advisory Group (TAG-ADE) on alcohol and drug epidemiology. The TAG will serve as an advisory body, providing expertise and guidance. Following a call for interest, 18 experts from various backgrounds were identified worldwide and selected to form the TAG-ADE.
The names and brief biographies of individuals being considered for participation in the TAG-ADE are hereby published for public notice and comment.
Comments and perceptions brought to the knowledge of WHO through this process are an integral component of WHO’s Conflicts of Interest assessment policy to strengthen public trust and transparency in connection with WHO meetings involving the provision of technical/normative advice. Comments and perceptions will be carefully reviewed and treated confidentially. The comments will not be published and will be kept on record.
WHO reserves the right to discuss information received through this process with the relevant expert with no attribution to the provider of such information. Upon review and assessment of the information received through this process, WHO, in its sole discretion, may take appropriate management action following its policies.
The participation of an expert in a WHO meeting does not imply that they are endorsed or recommended by the World Health Organization, nor does it create a binding relationship between the expert and WHO. The list of participating experts, a summary of relevant interests disclosed by such experts, and any appropriate mitigation measures taken by WHO relating to the management of conflicts of interest, will be reported publicly by WHO practice.
Comments should be provided by email, and the receipt of these will be acknowledged through a generic email notification to the sender.
Please send your comment to msd-ada@who.int with the subject, “Public comments on the Technical Advisory Group on Alcohol and Drug Epidemiology” with the indication of the name, nature, and contact details of the sender.
The deadline for public comments is Wednesday, 30 May 2025.
The public comment period has ended, and the composition of the Technical Advisory Group remains unchanged.