CAMH has been a World Health Organization/Pan-American Health Organization (WHO/PAHO) Collaborating Centre in Addiction and Mental Health since 1977, with one of its founding organizations.
Our work in monitoring alcohol trends has been one of the pillars of global estimates of alcohol-attributable disease burden. It is used in monitoring implementation progress of the Global Strategy to Reduce the Harmful Use of Alcohol, adopted by the World Health Assembly in 2010, as well as efforts by the World Bank, the European Union and various countries in trying to reduce harm attributed to alcohol consumption. This work helps set priorities for health policy and prevention in countries around the world, particularly in developing countries that have fewer resources for this type of monitoring.
The WHO Collaborating Centre works in close collaboration with WHO headquarters in four main areas:
1) Global Information System on Alcohol and Health. This is an online database that provides easy access to a wide range of alcohol-related health indicators for 130 countries. We actively collect and analyse data from around the world to inform reports such as the Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health and the Global Status Report on Non-Communicable Diseases. Dr. Kevin Shield (co-project lead), Dr. Jurgen Rehm (project lead), Dr. Charlotte Probst, Dr. Michael Roerecke, Ashley Wettlaufer.
2) Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders. We lead WHO research and knowledge dissemination efforts in several countries. Dr. Svetlana Popova (project lead), Dr. Kevin Shield.
3) Alcohol-attributable infectious disease (HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis). We contribute to research and knowledge dissemination. Dr. Paul Shuper.
4) Monitoring alcohol consumption, alcohol-attributable harm and alcohol policy. This work occurs within the Global Strategy to Reduce the Harmful Use of Alcohol and the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Dr. Kevin Shield (co-project lead), Dr. Jurgen Rehm (project lead), Dr. Charlotte Probst, Dr. Michael Roerecke, Ashley Wettlaufer.