ON June 17, 2021, the Irish Post published an article claiming that the World Health Organization (WHO) wanted to ban women of 'childbearing age' from drinking alcohol.
This article, which was written in good faith, was published in response to the WHO's recently released Global Action Plan 2022-2030, which urges that "appropriate attention" be given to the "prevention of drinking among [...] women of childbearing age".
We wrongly interpreted this to mean the WHO was in favour of an alcohol ban. This was a mistake.
After our article was published, the organisation released a statement clarifying their comments surrounding this topic, and have made it clear that they do not want to ban all women of childbearing age from drinking alcohol, but rather that they were simply suggesting preventative measures.
The Irish Post is committed to journalistic accuracy and is happy to clarify this on behalf of the WHO, and remedy this mistake.
