The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned that nations in the Western Pacific are unlikely to meet the United Nations’ target of reducing premature deaths from lifestyle-related diseases, such as cancer and diabetes, by 2030. The slow decline in alcohol and tobacco consumption is a significant factor hindering progress.
Chronic diseases like heart attacks, strokes, asthma, and lung diseases are responsible for more than 80% of deaths among the region’s 1.9 billion people. While the region has reduced premature mortality by over 25%, it is still falling short of the UN goal to cut early deaths by one-third by 2030.
Kidong Park, a senior official from the WHO Western Pacific, acknowledged that the region is unlikely to meet the 2030 deadline, attributing the challenge in part to continued alcohol and tobacco consumption. Certain countries, including Micronesia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, and the Solomon Islands, even experienced an increase in premature deaths from lifestyle diseases between 2000 and 2019, in contrast to the overall downward trend in the region.
Park emphasized the urgency of reducing alcohol consumption and accelerating efforts to curb tobacco use, which is currently lagging behind the goal to reduce tobacco use by 40% and cut per capita alcohol consumption. “We need to reduce, decrease alcohol consumption. We need more to quit tobacco consumption,” Park stated.
