In 2019, 38% of current drinkers had engaged in heavy episodic drinking, defined as consuming at least 60g of pure alcohol on one or more occasions in the preceding month – roughly equivalent to 4 or 5 glasses of wine, bottles of beer or servings of spirits. Total alcohol per capita consumption in the world population decreased slightly from 5.7 litres in 2010 to 5.5 litres in 2019. The highest levels of per capita consumption in 2019 were observed in the WHO European Region (9.2 litres) and the Region of Americas (7.5 litres). The roadmap for WHO action 2025–2030 outlines to Member States, and other stakeholders WHO’s unique role and approach for increasing access…
International Standards for the Treatment of Drug Use Disorders
Stigma, discrimination and misconceptions about the efficacy of treatment contribute to these critical gaps in treatment provision, as well as the continued low prioritization of substance use disorders by health and development agencies. Receptors for many hormones and neurotransmitters have been isolated and biochemically characterized. All these receptors are proteins, and most are incorporated into the cell membrane in such a way that the binding region faces the exterior of the cell.
- Drugs produce harmful as well as beneficial effects, and decisions about when and how to use them therapeutically always involve the balancing of benefits and risks.
- In 2019, 38% of current drinkers had engaged in heavy episodic drinking, defined as consuming at least 60g of pure alcohol on one or more occasions in the preceding month – roughly equivalent to 4 or 5 glasses of wine, bottles of beer or servings of spirits.
- However, globalized trade can undermine regulation, and in resource-limited settings especially, incidence of substandard or falsified medicines is growing.
- These pathogens require increased attention, especially in vulnerable populations including paediatric and elderly populations, particularly in resource-limited settings.
- Receptors for many hormones and neurotransmitters have been isolated and biochemically characterized.
Published issues
Pharmacology, the science of drugs, deals with all aspects of drugs in medicine, including their mechanism of action, physical and chemical properties, metabolism, therapeutics, and toxicity. This article focuses on the principles of drug action and includes an overview of the different types of drugs that are used in the treatment and prevention of human diseases. WHO has been convening the ECDD as a scientific advisory body for over 70 years with the mission to protect populations from harmful substances and to ensure that psychoactive substances are available where needed for medical and scientific purposes. The ECDD conducts scientific reviews at the request of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs and is the only treaty-mandated body to provide health recommendations to the Commission to inform decisions in drug policy. The BPPL 2024 also emphasizes the need for a comprehensive public health approach to addressing AMR, including universal access to quality and affordable measures for prevention, diagnosis and drug rehab for pregnant women specialized prenatal treatment appropriate treatment of infections, as outlined in WHO’s People-centred approach to addressing AMR and core package of AMR interventions. Since then there have been incredible advances in drugs for a wide range of health concerns including disease, mental health and other conditions.
Information from research institutions, medical journals and regulatory authorities:
WHO’s Global status report on alcohol and health and treatment of substance use disorders provides a comprehensive update based on 2019 data on the public health impact of alcohol and drug use and situation with alcohol consumption and treatment of substance use disorders worldwide. In the guidelines, WHO recommends the use of a range of treatment options for opioid dependence. These include opioid agonist maintenance treatment (or OAMT) with medicines such as methadone and buprenorphine, pharmacological treatment with opioid antagonists (such as naltrexone) as well as psychosocial support.
Publications
Although mutual help and peer support groups are useful resources for people with substance use disorders, almost half of responding countries reported that they do not offer such support groups for substance use disorders. Access to appropriate medications is shown to have substantial impacts on community health and the related economic indicators. Quality-assured, safe and effective medicines, vaccines and medicaldevices are fundamental to a functioning health system. However, globalized trade can undermine regulation, and in resource-limited settings especially, incidence of substandard or falsified medicines is growing. Working to increase access to essentialpharmaceuticals while limiting the spread of falsified products is at the heart of WHO’s global strategy on medicines.
Receptor activation briefly opens the transmembrane ion channel, and the resulting flow of ions across the membrane causes a change in the transmembrane potential of the cell that leads to the initiation or inhibition of electrical impulses. Examples include the receptors for acetylcholine and for other fast excitatory or inhibitory transmitter substances in the nervous system, such as glutamate and gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA). Carbapenem-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa (CRPA) infection moving from critical to high priority in BPPL 2024 mirrors recent reports of decreases in global resistance. Despite this transition, investment in R&D and other prevention and control strategies for CRPA remains important, given its significant burden in some regions. Medium priority pathogens include Group A and B Streptococci (both new to the 2024 list), Streptococcus pneumoniae, and Haemophilus influenzae, which present a high disease burden.
Latest lists of proposed and recommended International Nonproprietary Names for Pharmaceutical Substances (INN) are also included. In April 2016, the thirtieth Special Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGASS) reviewed the progress in the implementation of the 2009 Political Declaration and Plan of Action on International Cooperation Towards an Integrated and Balanced Strategy to Counter the World Drug Problem and assessed the achievements and challenges. In resolution S-30/1, the General Assembly adopted the outcome document of the special session on the world drug problem entitled “Our joint commitment to effectively addressing and countering the world drug problem”.
- Although mutual help and peer support groups are useful resources for people with substance use disorders, almost half of responding countries reported that they do not offer such support groups for substance use disorders.
- Total alcohol per capita consumption in the world population decreased slightly from 5.7 litres in 2010 to 5.5 litres in 2019.
- Today there are thousands of drugs on the market able to prevent, treat and lessen the impact of ailments that would have been fatal just a few generations ago.
- WHO has been convening the ECDD as a scientific advisory body for over 70 years with the mission to protect populations from harmful substances and to ensure that psychoactive substances are available where needed for medical and scientific purposes.
- The World Health Organization (WHO) today released its updated Bacterial Priority Pathogens List (BPPL) 2024, featuring 15 families of antibiotic-resistant bacteria grouped into critical, high and medium categories for prioritization.
In the third type of mechanism, which is peculiar to steroid hormones and related drugs, the steroid binds to a receptor that consists primarily of nuclear proteins. Because this interaction occurs inside the cell, agonists for this receptor must be able to cross the cell membrane. The drug-receptor complex acts on specific regions of the genetic material deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in the cell nucleus, resulting in an increased rate of synthesis for some proteins and a decreased rate for others. Steroids generally act much more slowly (hours to days) than agents that act by either of the two other mechanisms. The BPPL 2024 saw the removal of five pathogen-antibiotic combinations that were included in BPPL 2017, and the addition of four new combinations. The fact that third-generation cephalosporin-resistant Enterobacterales are listed as a standalone item within the critical priority category emphasizes their burden and need for targeted interventions, especially in low- and middle-income countries.
A new report from the World Health Organization (WHO) highlights that 2.6 million deaths per year were attributable to alcohol consumption, accounting for 4.7% of all deaths, and 0.6 million deaths to psychoactive drug use. WHO Drug Information provides an overview of topics relating to drug development and regulation that are of current relevance and importance, and includes the lists of proposed and recommended International Nonproprietary Names for Pharmaceutical Substances (INN). WHO Drug Information is a quarterly journal providing an overview of topics relating to medicines development and regulation which is targeted to a wide audience of health professionals and policy makers. WHO drug information provides an overview of topics of current relevance relating to drug development and regulation.
Rates of current drinking were highest among 15–19-year-olds in the European region (45.9%) followed by the Americas (43.9%).