Framing alcohol harm in the UN context – the importance of language

The language used in WHO documents holds political power in that it may influence the subsequent course of events. This is accentuated by the normative role of WHO in global health policy and the uptake of negotiated language beyond WHO documents. In the next five years it will be possible and valuable to examine in more detail the extent to which this power was made manifest and the need and possible ways to effect change.