Assessing progress toward the World Health Organization’s Global action plan alcohol reduction target in Sub-Saharan Africa 2010–2019

The World Health Organization (WHO) Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases calls for a 10% relative reduction in the harmful use of alcohol by 2025. We assessed progress across 45 sub-Saharan African countries between 2010 and 2019 using WHO data on alcohol per capita consumption (APC) and heavy episodic drinking (HED). Trends were analysed for both the total population and past-year drinkers, using population-weighted averages and non-parametric methods. Regionally, both total APC (+6.6%) and HED per capita (+4.0%) increased slightly between 2010 and 2019. Among drinkers, APC also rose (+4.9%), while HED prevalence remained stable at around 51%. Central Africa was the only subregion to show meaningful declines in both APC and HED per-capita, although it continued to report the highest levels of HED per capita (around 30%). One-third of countries met or exceeded the 10% reduction target in APC per-drinker, while 44% saw increases. Sub-Saharan Africa is not on track to have met the alcohol reduction target, but trends vary markedly by country, with some signs of progress in Central Africa. Harmful drinking remains widespread and unevenly distributed, underscoring the need for stronger, context-specific alcohol policy and targeted interventions, particularly where consumption is rising or HED remains high.