Written by: Belinda Loring, Aileen Robertson

This policy guidance aims to support European policy-makers to improve the design, implementation and evaluation of interventions and policies to reduce inequities in overweight and obesity. The prevalence of obesity in Europe is rising in many countries, and rising fastest in low socioeconomic population groups. There is a strong relationship between obesity and low socioeconomic status, especially for women. Reducing health inequities is a key strategic objective of Health 2020 – the European policy framework for health and well-being endorsed by the 53 Member States of the WHO European Region in 2012. This guide seeks to assist European policy-makers in contributing to achieving the objectives of Health 2020 in a practical way. It draws on key evidence, including from the Review of social determinants and the health divide in the WHO European Region. It sets out options to reduce the unequal distribution of obesity in Europe, through approaches which address the social determinants of obesity and the related health, social and economic consequences ofthe obesity inequity gradient. 

Author: WHO Regional Office for Europe
The action plan was endorsed by 53 European Member States at the Regional Committee for Europe in September 2011 in Baku, Azerbaijan. It includes a wide range of policies and programmes that are relatively easy and cheap to implement, can reduce the harmful use of alcohol, promote health and well-being, improve productivity, and enhance human, health and social capital across the life course from birth to old age. This action plan proposes a range of options for the 10 action areas of the global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol that all European Member States can engage in.

Authors: Björn Hibell (CAN), Ulf Guttormsson (CAN), Salme Ahlström (THL), Olga Balakireva (NASU), Thoroddur Bjarnason (University of Akureyri), Anna Kokkevi (University Mental Health Research Institute), Ludwig Kraus (IFT)

Overall, the use of illicit drugs among 15–16-year-old school students appears to have stabilised in 2011, according to the latest European study of this group published by the European school survey project on alcohol and other drugs (ESPAD). The report, based on a 2011 survey in 36 European countries, also reveals a reduction in ‘heavy episodic drinking’ (five drinks or more per occasion). But the survey highlights country differences and the need for vigilance where cannabis, inhalant and tobacco use has been seen to rise.

Author: D. Thanki, J. Matias, P. Griffiths, A. Noor, D. Olszewski, R. Simon and J. Vicente (EMCDDA)

This report brings together, for the first time in Europe, an integrated overview of the prevalence of intensive cannabis use. Cannabis use is relatively common in the European Union (EU) and Norway, with around 23 million people (6.8 % of all 15- to 64-year-olds) having used the drug in the past year and about 12 million (3.6 % of all 15- to 64-year-olds) in the last month. Although the prevalence of last-year cannabis use among the general population is generally stable or decreasing in many countries, demands for treatment in which cannabis is the primary drug continue to rise, indicating a possible increase in related problems.

Authors: Ari Rosmarin and Niamh Eastwood (Release)

'A Quiet Revolution: Drug Decriminalisation Policies in Practice Across the Globe' is the first report to support Release's campaign 'Drugs - It’s Time for Better Laws'. This report looks at over 20 countries that have adopted some form of decriminalisation of drug possession, including some States that have only decriminalised cannabis possession. The main aim of the report was to look at the existing research to establish whether the adoption of a decriminalised policy led to significant increases in drug use - the simple answer is that it did not.
More information about the campaign can be accessed at:
www.release.org.uk/decriminalisation