International
Alcohol kills 2.6 million people annually, says WHO
![](https://newstrends.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Alcohol-kills-2.6-million-people-annually.jpg)
Alcohol kills 2.6 million people annually, says WHO
Alcohol kills nearly three million people annually, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday, adding that while the death rate had dropped slightly in recent years it remained “unacceptably high”.
The United Nations health agency’s latest report on alcohol and health said alcohol causes nearly one in 20 deaths globally each year, through drunk driving, alcohol-induced violence and abuse, and a multitude of diseases and disorders.
The report said 2.6 million deaths were attributed to alcohol consumption in 2019 — the latest available statistics — accounting for 4.7 per cent of all deaths worldwide that year.
Nearly three-quarters of those deaths were in men, it said.
“Substance use severely harms individual health, increasing the risk of chronic diseases, mental health conditions, and tragically resulting in millions of preventable deaths every year,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.
He pointed out that there had been “some reduction in alcohol consumption and related harm worldwide since 2010”.
“(But) the health and social burden due to alcohol use remains unacceptably high,” he continued, highlighting that younger people were disproportionately affected.
The highest proportion of alcohol-attributable deaths in 2019 — 13 per cent — were among people aged 20 to 39, the WHO said.
READ ALSO:
- Sultan: Check your facts well, Sokoto govt replies Shettima
- Chinese investor seizes Nigeria’s properties in UK over debt
- Car lovers relish Chery’s special offers at Circle Mall Lekki display
Drinking is linked to a slew of health conditions, including cirrhosis of the liver and some cancers.
Of all the fatalities it caused in 2019, the report found that an estimated 1.6 million were from noncommunicable diseases.
Of these, 474,000 were from cardiovascular diseases, 401,000 from cancer and a huge 724,000 from injuries, including traffic accidents and self-harm.
Alcohol abuse also makes people more susceptible to infectious diseases such as tuberculosis, HIV and pneumonia, the report found.
An estimated 209 million people lived with alcohol dependence in 2019 — 3.7 per cent of the global population.
Total per capita consumption worldwide decreased slightly to 5.5 litres of alcohol in 2019 from 5.7 litres nine years earlier, the report found.
However, alcohol consumption overall is unevenly distributed around the globe.
Well, over half of the world’s population over the age of 15 abstains completely.
Europe accounted by far for the highest levels of per capita drinking, at 9.2 litres, followed by the Americas at 7.5 litres.
The lowest consumption was in predominantly Muslim countries in Northern Africa, the Middle East and Asia, the report said.
READ ALSO:
- Netanyahu: Israeli forces will move to Lebanon border as Rafah winds down
- Sokoto government denies plot to dethrone Sultan
- Five killed, dozens injured in Russian missile attack on Ukraine’s Pokrovsk
Among people who drank alcohol in 2019, the report determined they consumed 27 grammes of pure alcohol per day on average.
That is roughly equivalent to two glasses of wine, two small bottles of beer or two shots of spirits.
“This level and frequency of drinking is associated with increased risks of numerous health conditions and associated mortality and disability,” the WHO warned.
In 2019, a full 38 per cent of current drinkers acknowledged having engaged in heavy episodic drinking, defined as consuming at least 60 grammes of pure alcohol on one or more occasions in the preceding month.
Globally, 23.5 per cent of 15- to 19-year-olds were considered current drinkers.
That jumped to more than 45 per cent for people in this age group living in Europe, and to nearly 44 per cent in the Americas.
The WHO said it was essential to improve access to quality treatment for substance use disorders.
In 2019, the proportion of people contacting such treatment services ranged from below one per cent to 35 per cent in countries providing this data.
“Stigma, discrimination and misconceptions about the efficacy of treatment contribute to these critical gaps in treatment provision,” Vladimir Poznyak, head of WHO’s unit for alcohol, drugs and addictive behaviours, told reporters.
Alcohol kills 2.6 million people annually, says WHO
AFP
International
Minister arrested over alleged witchcraft
![](https://newstrends.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Fathimath-Shamnaz-Ali-Saleem.jpg)
Minister arrested over alleged witchcraft
A high-ranking politician in the Maldives has been arrested and detained, reportedly on suspicion of casting spells against the country’s president.
Fathimath Shamnaz Ali Saleem, State Secretary for Environment, Climate Change, and Energy, was taken into custody along with her ex-husband and two other accomplices.
The group has been ordered to remain in jail for a week pending an investigation.
The arrests have sent shockwaves through the political landscape of the Maldives, a nation known more for its idyllic beaches and tourism than for allegations of sorcery at the highest levels of government.
READ ALSO:
- Tenure of FCT council chairmen expires in 2026, INEC clarifies
- I lost over N10m to Abuja market fire, trader laments
- Tale of woes in Abuja market after fire outbreak
The Maldives police have not officially stated the reasons behind the arrest of the minister. However, they have declined to confirm or deny media reports suggesting that the charges involve ‘black magic’ directed at President Mohamed Muizzu.
The accusations have sparked widespread speculation and concern among the public and within political circles.
Fathimath Shamnaz Ali Saleem has been a prominent figure in the government, actively involved in shaping policies related to climate change and sustainable development.
Her sudden arrest on such unusual charges has raised many questions about the underlying political dynamics at play.
Minister arrested over alleged witchcraft
International
Israeli forces arrest 28 Palestinians in raids in occupied West Bank
![](https://newstrends.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Israeli-forces-detain-28-Palestinians-in-West-Bank-raids.jpg)
Israeli forces arrest 28 Palestinians in raids in occupied West Bank
The Israeli military has arrested 28 Palestinians in a series of raids across the occupied West Bank, according to a Palestinian rights group.
The overnight raids, part of Israel’s increasingly violent assault on the occupied territories, targeted the governorates of Jenin, Hebron, Bethlehem, Ramallah and el-Bireh, Nablus and Jerusalem, said the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society on Thursday.
Israeli forces had doled out “severe beatings” and made threats against detainees’ families, said the group, which keeps a daily tally of arrests.
Violence in the West Bank, already on the rise before Israel’s current war on Gaza erupted in October, has since escalated with frequent army raids on Palestinian groups, rampages by Jewish settlers in Palestinian villages, and deadly Palestinian street attacks.
Reporting from Ramallah, Al Jazeera’s Nour Odeh said the Israeli military had “dramatically” increased its operations, conducting about 38 raids a day, with an uptick in detentions. Home demolitions have gone up by 25 percent since last year, displacing more than 1,000 Palestinians.
In Jenin, where nine Palestinians were arrested, armed confrontations broke out in the city and its refugee camp in the early hours of Thursday.
READ ALSO:
- Palestinians in Lebanon ready to fight if Israel starts war with Hezbollah
- Biden struggles during heated debate with Trump ahead the 2024 US presidential election
- President Tinubu exposes Nigeria’s big thieves
Palestinian media said Israeli forces had raided a pharmacy near Jenin Government Hospital, on the outskirts of Jenin refugee camp, transferring detainees to an unknown destination.
A resident said Israeli bulldozers destroyed infrastructure inside the camp and in the city of Jenin.
During the raid, Palestinian fighters attacked Israeli armoured vehicles with explosive devices, killing one soldier and wounding 16.
“There were two explosions. The first one caused injuries. The second, that’s where the death happened,” said Odeh.
“According to preliminary Israeli investigations, the devices were buried or located a metre and a half into the ground, so deeper than the Israeli military vehicles usually dig to be able to find those improvised devices,” she said.
The Israeli military confirmed the death. The soldier “fell during operational activity in the area of Jenin”, it said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the Wafa news agency reported that four Palestinians were arrested in an overnight swoop on Hebron.
Israeli forces had stormed the town of Yatta, south of the city of Hebron, arresting three people, including a female university student. Another man was arrested in the town of Dura, southwest of Hebron.
The Israeli military also arrested a man after shooting him in the foot in the Qalandiya refugee camp, while another man was taken into custody in Deir Ghassana village, northwest of Ramallah.
Since October 7, Israel has carried out a total of 9,430 arrests in the West Bank in near daily raids.
The United Nations’ human rights chief Volker Turk warned this month that the situation in the West Bank was “dramatically deteriorating”, saying earlier that people there were being “subjected to day after day of unprecedented bloodshed”.
Israeli forces arrest 28 Palestinians in raids in occupied West Bank
International
Palestinians in Lebanon ready to fight if Israel starts war with Hezbollah
![](https://newstrends.ng/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/The-PFLP-GC-has-a-presence-in-Palestinian-refugee-camps-across-Lebanon.jpg)
Palestinians in Lebanon ready to fight if Israel starts war with Hezbollah
Shatila refugee camp, Beirut, Lebanon – Palestinians in Lebanon have watched Israel’s assault on Gaza with simmering anger and are now facing the prospect of a similar fate if Israel wages an all-out war against the Lebanese group Hezbollah.
Hezbollah began engaging Israel almost immediately after the latter began its war on Gaza, which has killed more than 37,000 people and uprooted almost the entire population.
The Lebanese group has repeatedly said it would stop its attacks on Israel once a ceasefire took hold in Gaza and Israel stopped its bombardment on the people living there.
Israel’s assault followed a Hamas-led surprise attack on Israeli communities and military outposts on October 7, in which 1,139 people were killed and 250 taken captive.
Ready to go home
In the Shatila Palestinian refugee camp in Beirut, many people involved in resistance movements told Al Jazeera that they’re not scared, and would fight to support Hezbollah and the wider “axis of resistance” in the region against Israel.
READ ALSO:
- Biden struggles during heated debate with Trump ahead the 2024 US presidential election
- President Tinubu exposes Nigeria’s big thieves
- Three persons injured in Jigawa farmers-herders clash
But they fear for their families and civilians, worrying that Israel would deliberately target densely populated residential areas in Lebanon, like the Palestinian camps, where tens of thousands of people live packed tightly together.
“The Israeli army has no ethics. They don’t abide by human rights or consider the rights of children,” said Ahed Mahar, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command [PFLP-GC] in Shatila.
-
metro1 day ago
Hajj: Chief Imam Ayilara hits back at Soun of Ogbomosho over query
-
Entertainment3 days ago
#Chivido2024: Davido, Chioma wed in Lagos, with Obasanjo, Ooni, govs, celebs attending
-
News10 hours ago
Sanusi remains Kano emir, Nasarawa palace a distraction – state govt
-
Business2 days ago
Naira goes for N1,500/$ at parallel market
-
News11 hours ago
Wike slams Ozekhome for defending election riggers, says Shehu Sani failed as senator
-
Opinion12 hours ago
President Tinubu exposes Nigeria’s big thieves
-
Business2 days ago
Court stops Ikeja Electric, NERC from implementing new tariff
-
Sports2 days ago
Osimhen’s attitude, character scaring European clubs, says ex-striker Peter Ijeh