The WHO has released its publication on NCD Quick Buys. Quick Buys were defined as public health interventions that could exhibit measurable effects within 5 years. Of the 49 interventions from the NCD Best Buys, 25 qualified as quick buys, including those relating to tobacco, alcohol, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, chronic respiratory disease and cancer. The quick buys provide an important tool for policymakers deciding on interventions that align with short-term political cycles but also have the potential to accelerate progress for the 2030 Sustainable Development Goal of reducing premature NCD mortality by one-third.
The 4 quick buys for alcohol include:
- increasing excise taxes (impact in less than 1 year),
- enacting and enforcing bans or comprehensive restrictions on exposure to alcohol advertising (impact in less than 1 year),
- enacting and enforcing restrictions on the physical availability of alcohol (impact in less than 1 year)
- brief psychosocial interventions for persons with hazardous and harmful alcohol use (impact within 1 year)
FORUT strongly supports the NCD Quick Buys for alcohol and is working to promote these evidence-based and cost-effective policies with partners in the Global South. .
Recommended citation:
Galea, G., Ekberg, A., Ciobanu, A., Corbex, M., Farrington, J., Ferreira-Bores, C., Kokole, D., Losada, M. L., Neufeld, M., Rakovac, I., Tsoy, E., Wickramasinghe, K., Williams, J., McKee, M., & Stuckler, D. (2025). Quick buys for prevention and control of noncommunicable diseases. The Lancet Regional Health – Europe, 101281. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lanepe.2025.101281