The World Health Organization warned Friday that too few countries were taking steps to prevent alcohol abuse and raised alarm bells over major increases in alcohol consumption in Africa and Asia.
"Too few countries use effective policy options to prevent death, disease and injury from alcohol use," the UN health organization said, saying that alcohol abuse contributes to 2.5 million deaths every year.
These include restrictions on alcohol marketing and drink driving, but "there are no clear trends on most preventive measures," noted the agency.
The UN agency said it was particularly worried about Africa and Southeast Asia, where consumption had shown "marked increases." And in the Southeast Asia region, which in WHO definitions is made up of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor-Leste, that figure was 68.3 percent.