Since the last meeting of the WHO Expert Committee on Problems Related to Alcohol Consumption, WHO has undertaken a range of major initiatives to support Member States and reinforce the evidence on which policies work, to develop global and regional information systems, and to promote effective policies in health-care settings. These initiatives provide the background for the continuing role of WHO in supporting Member States to reduce the harm done by alcohol. In resolution WHA58.26, the Fifty-eighth World Health Assembly in 2005 requested the Director-General "to report to the Sixtieth World Health Assembly on evidence-based strategies and interventions to reduce alcohol-related harm, including a comprehensive assessment of public-health problems caused by harmful use of alcohol" and "to draw up recommendations for effective policies and interventions to reduce alcohol-related harm". To this end, a WHO Expert Committee on Problems Related to Alcohol Consumption was convened with the main objectives of reviewing a range of public health problems attributable to alcohol consumption, as well as scientific and empirical evidence of effectiveness of different policy options, and providing technical recommendations on effective policies and interventions to reduce alcohol-related harm.