News

AFS response to Population Health Framework

The Scottish Government has today [Tuesday 17 June] published its new Population Health Framework.

The Population Health Framework sets out Scottish Government’s and COSLA’s long-term collective approach to improving Scotland’s health and reducing health inequalities for the next decade.

Commenting on the publication, Alison Douglas, CEO of Alcohol Focus Scotland, said:

“Alcohol Focus Scotland welcomes this long-awaited framework, which renews the focus on improving Scotland’s health by preventing health harms and tackling inequalities, including those linked to alcohol.

“However, while it sets out important aims and recognises the scale of alcohol-related harm, it lacks meaningful new commitments and fails to treat Scotland’s alcohol emergency with the urgency it demands.

“It is particularly concerning and perplexing that, despite increasing international recognition from the World Health Organization (WHO) and others, of the need to address the commercial determinants of health, there is little mention of this in the Framework. As the experience from tobacco has shown, regulating how health-harming products are priced, sold and marketed by big business is essential to successfully reducing consumption and harm – and to reducing health inequalities.  

“Ireland has significantly reduced alcohol consumption by implementing cost-effective policies on marketing, pricing and labelling. Scotland urgently needs a new, comprehensive alcohol strategy with a commitment to similar measures if we are to reverse our near-record alcohol deaths and rising liver disease, which affect the poorest most.”