Home > Drug and alcohol abuse targeted in UN’s 2030 Agenda and 17 Sustainable Development Goals.

O'Sullivan, Michael (2018) Drug and alcohol abuse targeted in UN’s 2030 Agenda and 17 Sustainable Development Goals. Drugnet Ireland, Issue 67, Autumn 2018, pp. 5-6.

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In September 2015, at an historic United Nations (UN) Summit, the 193 member countries of the UN adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.1 Within that resolution, 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and 169 related targets were announced. The objectives of this agenda are to leave no one behind and to end all forms of poverty, fight inequalities, and tackle climate change. The 17 goals are a call to action aimed at all countries, poor, rich and middle-income, to promote prosperity while protecting the planet. Goal 3 calls for countries to ‘ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages’. As one of the 13 related targets, it encourages action by countries to ‘strengthen the prevention and treatment of substance abuse, including narcotic drug abuse and harmful use of alcohol’.

 

The SDGs are a compass for aligning countries’ plans with their global commitments, and the implementation and success of the goals will rely on each country’s own sustainable development policies, plans and programmes. At a national level, governments will develop individual indicators to monitor progress made towards each goal and target; while at a global level, a global indicator framework was agreed and adopted by the UN General Assembly on 6 July 2017.2

 

Under the drug and alcohol target, the indicators in use globally are: 

  • Coverage of treatment interventions (pharmacological, psychosocial, and rehabilitation and aftercare services) for substance use disorders.
  • Harmful use of alcohol, defined according to the national context as alcohol per capita consumption (aged 15 years and older) within a calendar year in litres of pure alcohol.

 

In 2018 in Ireland, the Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment (DCCAE) published The sustainable development goals national implementation plan 2018–20203 detailing Ireland’s response. It identifies the national policies and their key objectives that align with each global indicator. On a drug policy level, in its strategy, Reducing harm, supporting recovery: a health-led response to drug and alcohol use in Ireland 2017–2025,4 the Department of Health aims to: 

  • Promote and protect health and wellbeing.
  • Minimise the harms caused by the use and misuse of substances and promote rehabilitation and recovery.
  • Address the harms of drug markets and reduce access to drugs for harmful use.
  • Support the participation of individuals, families and communities.
  • Develop sound and comprehensive evidence-informed policies and actions.

 

On a legislative level, with the proposed Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015, the Government aims to reduce alcohol consumption in Ireland to the OECD average of 9.1 litres of pure alcohol per capita by 2020.

 

In addition, the Government has undertaken to produce national reports on its implementation of the goals every two years and voluntary national reviews every four years, beginning in 2018.

  

1  Further information on the 2030 Agenda, goals and targets is available online at: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/

2  Further information on the global indicators is available online at: https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/

3  Department of Communications, Climate Action and Environment (2018) The sustainable development goals national implementation plan 2018–2020. Dublin: Government of Ireland. Available online at: https://www.dccae.gov.ie/documents/DCCAE-National-Implement-Plan.pdf

4 Department of Health (2017) Reducing harm, supporting recovery: a health-led response to drug and alcohol use in Ireland 2017–2025. Dublin: Department of Health. https://www.drugsandalcohol.ie/27603/

Item Type
Article
Publication Type
Irish-related, International, Open Access, Article
Drug Type
Alcohol, All substances
Intervention Type
Harm reduction, Crime prevention, Policy
Issue Title
Issue 67, Autumn 2018
Date
November 2018
Page Range
pp. 5-6
Publisher
Health Research Board
Volume
Issue 67, Autumn 2018
EndNote

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