Protecting lives through stronger alcohol control in the Western Pacific

MANILA, Philippines – Alcohol continues to take a heavy toll on health and communities across the Western Pacific Region. In the Region, alcohol is linked to one death every minute and contributes to one in every five deaths among men in their twenties. Yet many of these harms can be prevented through proven measures such as alcohol taxation, restrictions on marketing and availability, enforcement of drink–driving laws, and access to screening and treatment.

In October 2025, at the seventy-sixth session of the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Committee for the Western Pacific, Member States endorsed a plan to accelerate implementation of the Global Alcohol Action Plan 2022–2030 in the Region. Building on this commitment and an earlier regional alcohol control workshop, WHO brought countries together in Manila on 25–26 August 2026 to focus on a central and urgent challenge: translating evidence and policy commitments into effective implementation.

This focus on putting policies into practice reinforces the call for stronger regulation made through WHO’s Alcohol Leaves a Mark campaign, launched in 2025 to highlight alcohol’s harms to individuals, families and communities.

Bringing different sectors to the same table

The Intercountry Learning Workshop on Strengthening Alcohol Control Policy gathered 19 participants from seven Member States in the Region: Cambodia, Kiribati, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic, the Marshall Islands, Mongolia, the Philippines and Viet Nam.

Country representation extended beyond the health sector. Delegations included officials from the health, regulatory, legislative and law enforcement sectors, reflecting the central theme echoed throughout the workshop: preventing alcohol-related harm is a shared responsibility. Effective action requires various parts of government to work together – from health and finance to law enforcement, regulatory authorities and legislative bodies.

Countries learning from one another

_{Ms Xi Yin, Coordinator for the Health Promotion and Policy Unit of the WHO Regional Office for the Western Pacific, leads an interactive discussion on alcohol industry interference. Participants share country experiences of strengthening alcohol control policies. © WHO / I. Alviar}

Peer learning was at the heart of the two-day workshop. Countries shared not only progress, but also challenges they continue to face in translating alcohol control policies into practice. 

Despite different national contexts, many of these challenges are shared. They include gaps between legislation and enforcement, unclear responsibilities across government agencies, limited monitoring, regulation of online alcohol sales and delivery, rapidly evolving digital marketing and alcohol industry interference. 

The exchange allowed countries to learn from practical experience elsewhere in the Region. Viet Nam’s experience with drink–driving countermeasures, including random breath-testing and enforcement, generated discussion on how legislation, enforcement and public communication can work together. Mongolia shared experience relating to strengthening screening and treatment services, while countries compared different approaches to alcohol licensing, sales hours, age restrictions and enforcement. 

Participants also examined the growing challenge of digital alcohol marketing. Social media, influencers, sponsorship and cross-border advertising can expose weaknesses in legislation designed for more traditional forms of advertising, reinforcing the need for regulatory approaches that can keep pace with a rapidly changing marketing environment. 

The country exchanges provided an opportunity to look beyond what policies say on paper and consider what is required to make them work in practice – including clear institutional responsibilities, adequate enforcement capacity, meaningful sanctions, reliable monitoring and sustained coordination across sectors.

Turning regional commitments into country action

The workshop focused on the WHO SAFER technical package of evidence-based measures: restricting alcohol availability; advancing and enforcing drink–driving countermeasures; facilitating access to screening, brief interventions and treatment; enforcing restrictions on alcohol advertising, sponsorship and promotion; and raising alcohol prices through taxation and pricing policies. 

Rather than developing a single approach, the workshop enabled the seven participating countries to examine their own policy environments and identify priorities suited to their national contexts. This ranged from strengthening systems on alcohol availability and licensing, and addressing marketing restrictions, to improving taxation, drink–driving enforcement, treatment services and safeguards against industry interference. 

The discussions reinforced a common lesson: strong policies need to be designed with implementation in mind from the outset.

Sustaining momentum 

The workshop is part of WHO’s continuing support to Member States following the commitment to alcohol control made by the Regional Committee in 2025. Countries identified priority actions to take forward following the workshop, with WHO providing tailored technical support. They will also continue to exchange practical experience on overcoming implementation barriers and adapting effective approaches to their own contexts. 

Ultimately, progress will be measured not by the commitments made in Manila, but by the action that follows: stronger policies, effective implementation and enforcement, and far fewer lives and communities harmed by alcohol across the Western Pacific Region.