One of the main reasons for the deterioration of health in Poland has been the weakening of public health regulations, including alcohol control policy [1]. The provisions of the Act on Education in Sobriety and Counteracting Alcoholism from 1982 (at that time one of the best alcohol control legislations in the world) have been dismantled [2].
In 2002 the Minister of Finance reduced the alcohol tax by 30%, which contributed to a substantial increase in registered alcohol per capita consumption in Poland from 8 to 11 litres per person per year between 2002 and 2021. Among the majority of European countries, alcohol consumption was decreasing between 2002 and 2020. By contrast, in Poland alcohol consumption increased in this period by 35%.
Alcohol availability and affordability increased substantially in Poland in the 21st century. The number of sales points increased from around 189,000 in 2006 to more than 490,000 in 2021 [3, 4]. At the beginning of the 2000s, the average Pole could buy around 30 bottles of vodka from minimum earnings. By 2022, this number had increased to more than 100 bottles [5]. It is worth mentioning that anti-promotional alcohol pricing policy is one of the most effective tools aimed at reducing the harmful effects of alcohol consumption. However, prices of alcohol in Poland are among the lowest in European countries [6].
Rising alcohol consumption in Poland has led to a dramatic increase in mortality from alcohol-related diseases [2, 7]. It is estimated that around 30,000 deaths were caused by alcohol consumption in Poland in 2021 [8]. Mortality from alcoholic liver cirrhosis (a disease which is 100% attributable to alcohol consumption) increased dramatically in both men and women and in all age groups. Standardized mortality rates increased in the oldest age group (65 years and more) by 8 times in men (from 6.3 to 49.3 per 100,000) and by 20 times in women (from 0.7 to 11.7 per 100,000) between 2002 and 2022. The annual number of deaths increased in male and female adults aged 20 years and more from 1,079 in 2002 to 6,599 in 2022.
Contrary to some European countries, in the last 20 years Poland has not implemented any regulations that would lead to decreased availability of alcohol [9]. The need for action in this area is so great that civic initiatives have begun to be launched to reduce the availability of alcohol, e.g. a night-time sales ban in cities or bringing to justice the illegal promotion of alcohol among celebrities [10].
In Poland, there is an urgent need to implement a national strategy for the control of alcohol-related health harm. This strategy should include, among other things, (1) a continuous and significant increase in taxes on alcohol – taking into account rising inflation and the minimum wage, (2) a total ban on advertising, (3) measures to limit the availability of alcohol, (4) well-funded and effective educational campaigns and strengthening the importance of primary prevention, and (5) a system for monitoring health harm caused by alcohol. Public health regulations in the area of alcohol control should take into account best practices from other European countries.
DISCLOSURE
The author reports no conflict of interest.
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